


The Invisible Cord

by Spooky66



Category: The X-Files
Genre: Episode: s05e07 Emily, F/M, Kid Fic, Multi Chapter, Post-Episode: s05e06 Christmas Carol, Post-Episode: s05e07 Emily, Post-Series, kind of a kid fic at least
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-04-08
Updated: 2018-01-28
Packaged: 2018-10-16 06:01:39
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 25,170
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10565091
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Spooky66/pseuds/Spooky66
Summary: Mulder and Scully have mourned Emily every year on her official birthday as they remember the little girl who’d had such a short life. Meanwhile April Meeks tries to learn more about the past that was stolen from her. When their paths cross they find themselves once again on a journey that will bring back memories from the past.





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I don’t own the x files. It also should be noted that Syntax6 presented a theory in one of her stories that I liked so I decided to take it as one of my head canons.   
> Thank you to @alittlemissfit for being my beta!

February 1995  
Washington D.C.

Looking over the DNA results Scully knows there can be no question. Mulder is Emily’s biological father.   
A sob starts to build deep inside of her and she wants to grab the pillow next to her and scream into it.   
Before her abduction they had slept together three times. Just three times. She tries to remember if she’d forgotten to take her pill at some point but normally she’s consistent with it, and as a scientist she can’t argue that the proof is staring her in the face. She’d been at least one month along when she was abducted and somehow during that time they’d stolen her little girl. Stolen her and turned her into something not human.

It wasn’t just her little girl though. It was their little girl. Her’s and his. Her’s and Mulder’s. Their daughter.  
The sob works its way out and she puts the results on the table, hides her face in her hands and cries.

She had looked into it all on a hunch. A tech at the hospital during Emily’s stay mentioned she had paternal DNA, rightfully assumed that the girl had a donor father.

Scully considered the fact the DNA could have come from anyone, until a few nights before when Mulder had been in bed holding her. The same way he had before her abduction.

After she returned he had stayed at arms length. He was there for her during the cancer, he was tender and he was loving but he never made any advances. Scully couldn’t help but wonder if it was because he viewed her as damaged. Later she learned that couldn’t be further from the truth.

A week ago he’d come clean about the case he worked in California while she was still missing. The one with the vampire club. He told her about Kristen Kilar, about having sex with her, and the immediate shame and guilt he felt after the fact. He also told her what he’d been most afraid of facing since the case; the results of the HIV tests he’d had since.

He’d been tested more times than recommended and finally his doctor told him that unless he was continually worried about contracting the virus he was fine. Mulder still felt dirty though, when he wasn’t saying it to her he showed it in the way he carried himself. It broke her heart and when he finally broke down and told her truth, she had cried. He assumed she was angry, that she wanted him to leave but she reached for his hand, made it clear she felt the opposite.   
They held each other for what felt like hours before she kissed him, granted the forgiveness he was clamoring for. They weren’t involved, they’d made no promises to each other before her abduction. To her there was nothing to forgive but knowing he needed it, she absolved him, told him she held nothing against him. He melted into her arms, finally made the promises and declarations of love that he hadn’t had the chance to before.

Later that night she laid her head on his bare chest, listened to his steady heartbeat before the tech’s words rang clear in her mind.

“The genetic material could be the result of interference, but it could also be the result of intercourse. Emily was created like a normal child. But afterwards they changed her biology.”

They changed her biology.  
A sudden chill ran up Scully’s spine and she shivered. Feeling it in his sleep Mulder pulled her closer, covered them both. She still didn’t sleep at all that night.

They hadn’t discussed what the change in their relationship meant, but every other night one of them would show up at the others apartment. One night when she was at her’s, knowing he was at his, she took the time to go over the results with a fine tooth comb. She took all her files and documents she had pertaining to Emily, laid them out on her coffee table and began to review the data in front of her, point by point.Naturally this was the night that Mulder decided to break from tradition.

She hears him knock at the door and is forced out of her forced objectivity, her compartmentalization, her detachment. Knowing it had to be him she’s overwhelmed with dread, tastes bile. Gathering the documents she hastily stuffs them into file folders, too on edge to care her organizational system’s all gone to hell.

“One second, Mulder!” she calls, standing to put the stack of folders on the desk before taking a breath, crossing the room to open the door.

He’s standing there with a bashful look on his face, looking like a teenager picking up his prom date. Despite everything she’d just looked at, the churning in her stomach, his handsome face makes her smile as much as she can manage. Makes her feel warm.

“So, I know we’ve been doing an every other night type thing but I didn’t think that arrangement was set in stone and I…I just wanted to see you,” he trails off as Scully lets out a ragged breath, pulls him into her apartment.

After she closes the door he gets a good look at her and his face fills with concern.

“Hey, what’s going on? What-”  
Putting one hand on her shoulder he tilts her chin up with the other, takes in her red nose and puffy, tearful eyes.

“What’s wrong, Scully?” he asks with alarm.

She shakes her head and he lets out a sigh before she even says the words.

“Nothing, Mulder. I’m just not feeling well.”

Dropping his head he groans. “Really, Scully? We’re still doing this?”

He expects her anger, expects her to glare and push back but instead she shakes her head miserably, falls into him as her face crumples.

In total shock all he bring himself to do is hold her as she cries.

“God Mulder… I don’t even know…. I…I’m so sorry…” she chokes out between sobs and hiccups, hiding her face in his chest.

Rubbing her back he feels a shiver down his spine as she stammers in half sentences that don’t even fit together.

“Shhh, Scully. Just breathe. It’s alright, it’s alright…,” Mulder murmurs, pressing kisses into her hair. When her tears don’t let up he lifts her up, carries her into the living room. Moving to the couch he takes a seat and she stays put in his lap, tucked under his chin. Rubbing her back he holds her close. Her sobbing starts to subside but she still refuses to meet his eyes.

“Do you want to talk about it?” he asks softly, pushing some hair behind her ear. Her head still bowed, cheek pressed to his chest she looks down at their hands that are twined in her lap. Sniffling she lets out a slow breath.

“I don’t even know where to start.”

“Take your time, it’s alright.”

After a beat and another slow breath she shifts off his lap, still staring at their joined hands.

“There are some papers over on my desk. Could you grab them? They’re in that stack of folders there on the left. In the messy heap.”

“I didn’t know you had messy heaps, Scully,” Mulder chuckles, bringing her hand to his lips to kiss before following her instructions. Picking up the manilla folder, the papers above it he glances at the top sheet. Seeing medical terminology, a series of charts and figures he doesn’t understand he frowns.

“Are these in some kind of code? If they are I can’t make it out.”

“Mulder…”

She doesn’t laugh, doesn’t even manage a smile and he feels a knot form at the base of his stomach. He looks down at the sheet again, tries to scan and decipher for anything recognizable, anything familiar, until he thinks of one devastating thing that he might be familiar with. Reading again though, not seeing anything he can pick up on associated with cancer he lets out a ragged breath. Hands them to her before he can scare himself more.

“What’s in these documents, Scully?”

He sits down, waits as she worries her lip between her teeth, speaks after a beat.

“When I was with Emily in the hospital, even before she was admitted, there was so much happening all at once, it was almost impossible for me to take any of it in.”

“That makes sense. It was such a whirlwind, Scully. Why…”

“When I learned what was wrong, I was so focused on finding a way to save her… I couldn’t think about anything else. But, since that night, I remembered something. Something I discovered in the tests that were being run.”

Rifling through the papers she pulls out some transparent sheets that he recognizes as gene markers.   
Taking one she holds it up to the light. “This is the breakdown for my DNA,” she says as he nods in understanding, prompts her to raise the other sheet.

“This is Emily’s. It’s clear that we’re a genetic match.”

Mulder had seen the same demonstration from her but he says nothing and waits for her to continue.

Letting out a long sigh, Scully sets down the sheets with her markers and Emily’s, holds up the other sheet in her hand.

“This is the DNA from Emily’s biological father,” she says as Mulder’s brow knits. Frowning he nods, runs his hand over his face as she bows her head.

“Back at the hospital I was told that Emily was created with normal genetic material. The tech said it this could have been the result of some kind of intervention during my abduction or…”

“Or what, Scully?”

“Or…it could have happened naturally, Mulder,” she says softly, meeting his eyes. He’s still wearing a frown, staring at the sheet in her hand. He wants to tell her to just spit it out, fill him in and stop keeping him in suspense until he squints, sees the printing etched in the top right corner of the breakdown for Emily’s paternal DNA.

Taking the sheet from Scully’s hand he slowly brings it closer to his face. Reads the series of numbers in small print, then the printed name. His name.

His whole body goes numb and his ears fill with white noise. He feels like he’s going to pass out and dropping the sheet, takes hold of the arm of the couch to brace himself.

“Mulder…” she calls, but he can’t respond. He can’t think. Think of anything that’s not Emily’s tiny angelic face. Her little smile that matches his, the shape of her face, and the little expressions on her face that matched a young Samantha. In his mind he sees all of these things mixed with Scully’s eyes and the light hair and small dimples. Their little girl.

The day he met he fell for her. She laughed at his jokes, that stupid potato face he made. The fact that she was a part of his partner meant he loved her from the getgo but now, this was different. It was all completely different. He and Scully had created a child. A child that had been taken from them. Stolen away by evil, malevolent sons of bitches who turned her into something different, made her sick, conducted experiments on her until her little body finally gave up. His shock and despair is immediately replaced by cold, hard rage.

Scully could see the transformation and moved her hand to his cheek but his gaze was still far off.   
“Mulder. Mulder look at me, please look at me.” She begged him and took his face fully between her hands.   
The rage she saw in them scared her. The only time she’d seen anything similar had been during her cancer.  
She took the DNA sheets from his hands and moved close so she could wrap her arms around his neck.  
After a few seconds he stiffly put his arms around her.   
“I’m so sorry Mulder. I should have tried to look into it at the hospital. You deserved a say in what happened. I’m so sorry.” She cried into his neck.   
His hand tangled in her hair and he pulled as close to him as he could. He didn’t have the words to tell her that she shouldn’t be sorry.   
Instead he spoke in a low voice, “It’s going to be okay. I’ll find them. I’ll find who did it Scully.”   
“No please just stay with me right now. Just be with me.”   
He nodded and curled himself around her as if he could protect them both from the evil around them.


	2. Chapter 1

October 2011   
Chicago, IL

I look out the window and watch the wind blow through the autumn leaves. The swirling colors are able to hold my attention far better than the droning on of my biology teacher giving her lecture.

“Ms. Meeks? Ms. Meeks!”   
The teacher’s irritable voice reaches my subconscious along with a series of muffled snickers.

“Yes ma’am?” I ask.

“You seem to be distracted. Would some extra homework tonight help you concentrate?” she asks, hands on her hips.

“I’m not distracted, ma’am. I’ve been listening.”

“Well then, what are ribosomes?” she asked, her lips pursed.

My mind moves back in time to moments before and as I picture the leaves in the trees I can hear Mrs. Jefferson’s voice telling me the answer.

“They help produce the polypeptides that make up the majority of a cell’s structure and are required for activities that are necessary for the cell’s survival,” I repeat, using her exact wording just to be a brat.

“Alright then, what about endoplasmic reticulum?” she asks with a sigh.

For this I have to think back to a few minutes earlier. I remember how the light had shone off of Mr. Randall’s car and it comes back.

“The endoplasmic reticulum is a network of membrane-covered channels that transport the materials made in the cells, and are connected to the nucleus,” I say, again using her exact wording.

“Well, you certainly have done your reading,” Mrs. Jefferson says, giving me a subtle nod of approval. She’s seems to want to continue her little quiz when the bell rings. The students start to get up and as I gather my things I hear her voice through the crowd.

“April Meeks. I would like to speak with you before you leave.”

I walk up to her desk, making just enough eye contact to make her uncomfortable.

“What was that performance just now?” she asks, incredulous.

“I was listening to you, Mrs. Jefferson,” I say with a small shrug.

“You were not paying attention to the discussion or even taking notes.”

Fighting the urge to roll my eyes I tap my head. “Eidetic memory,” I answer with a straight face. Try not to react as her mouth twists into an ugly pout.

“May I leave now?” I ask as she simply nods, gestures towards the door.

Brian and May, not surprisingly were standing outside of it waiting for me. We walk to class together most every day. I know we’re known as the Three Musketeers. It used to bother me but now I’ve come to embrace it. May’s long black braids sway around her head as she walks next to me, waits for me to say something. Brian, as usual, stays silent on my other side. Anticipating the coming argument.

He and May are my only two friends in the world. We grew up in the same foster center together and May and I quickly bonded because of our names. She introduced me to her twin brother Brian, and the three of us have been inseparable ever since.

“That was stupid, April.” May says in her lecturing voice. “Why would you draw attention to yourself like that?”

I gave her what had to be my fiftieth shrug of the day.

“I’m just sick of sitting in a mid level bio class pretending like I’m actually learning something.”

“So do you not want to stick to our plan then?” she asks, stopping so that Brian and I are forced to stop and turn around.

“I never said that,” I mutter, letting out a soft sigh. “I just, why does it have to be so boring?”

“You don’t think that we’re bored?” May scoffs, gesturing between her and her brother.

“But you know if we are all pulled out of the class people will start to notice we’re different. They’ll notice and then they’ll take you again.”

I look down at my feet, clad in Converse shoes that have seen better days.

Brian’s hand grazes my arm and I look at the contrast between his dark, tanned skin and my own ghost like shade of pale. I use his touch as a way to center myself, then look back to his sister who is now tapping her foot.

“May, just for the record one more time, you are not my mother! I know all of this. And I don’t want to get taken! I didn’t get much sleep last night. I’m tired, and soon enough another birthday of mine is going to come around and I’ll have nothing new to show for it!’

Brian’s fingers move down my arm, take hold of my hand and then he gives it a small squeeze. He’s different from his sister and I who both love to talk. He’s quiet, has always only spoken when he’s had to, which is rare when he’s with us. Mostly he communicates with everyone through touch and proximity. A way that most normal people would never be able to fully understand.

I’ve always known there was something different about Brian. Whenever one of our caretakers would come to work sad or down, Brian would sense it. He’d go over and stay with her for the rest of their shift. They’d only spend a few minutes in his presence and start smiling. Not from anything in particular that he’d said, just because he was there.

His sister and I were different too, but Brian’s ‘special gift’ seemed to unsettle others. Meanwhile May and I would come off as your average, annoying, self absorbed teenage girl.

At my admission and birthday remark, May just loops her arm through mine. Starts to walk again.

In two days it will be my 16th birthday. I know for most everyone else in my class this is a date of significance. Sweet Sixteen invitations have been plastered all over lockers and that everyone’s excited to get their learner’s permit. Even get their own car.

To me it just meant another year. One filled with even more questions and fear than the previous one. It just so happens Brian and May’s birthday falls exactly one month before mine. At least my best friends both understand the uneasiness I’m feeling.

The three of us are alike in a lot of ways. The main way being we don’t remember our lives before the age of five. It’s not that our minds were erased and we have no concept, but what we do remember follows no distinct narrative. The memories don’t seem to fit in anywhere. Then again neither do the three of us.

I used to and still have flashes to my mother singing to me as she makes me my lunch. I can think back to being in the car with my father on a road trip. I can remember all my visits to all the doctors. Those memories are the strongest ones, and that makes sense considering I spent most of my early childhood in the hospital. Brian and May have parallel experiences.

I know other kids in school must know this. We’re the anomalies, the freaks, the ones who will probably grow up to be in therapy, and somehow the student population can sense this. When they do have the nerve to point and stare though they’re met with a withering stare from May. Yes, we’re unpopular freaks but we’re not about to roll over and drool when you remind us of it.

“I just don’t want you to take risks like that. The three of us need to stick together. I mean, really. Just two more years and we are out of this hellhole. That’s what you should think of on your birthday. Just two years until freedom.”

Her arm tightens around mine and I smile, know that she really believes it. And that’s a bit of a feat for me.  
__________________________________________________________________________

We watch them walk out of the school and try to interpret their behavior, this…display. Two of them have linked arms and upturned lips, and it makes us curious. Makes us wonder. Even though technically none of us are programmed to do that. We don’t think in depth. We don’t experience emotion. I guess one could consider us robots. One perk though of our clinical detachment is our reliance on our instincts. They’re essential to who we are and have helped to keep us safe. To help us survive.

One of our key instincts is fairly basic. To protect our mothers. We’ve had so many of them and while we failed most of them years ago, when we were still too young and unskilled to prevent them from being harmed, we know some of them still live. Some, against all odds, have managed to survive and weather all the illness and all the death that’s been thrown at them, and we believe with everything in us, that we still have an obligation to them.

We know there are few of us now. According to all the official documents we’ve managed to access we are considered to be extinct. The truth is though that we still exist. We still create. We still have roles. We just need to embrace them quietly. Slowly. The way we’ve been trained to.

Looking to our sister she nods. We move forward, to follow the group of three. These three are real humans. They are to be protected. Unlike us. We’re secondary. Just biological material stolen from the humans, grown in the bellies of women who didn’t ask for us. Although we are all that remains of the original batch, the ones not created in test tubes, we all still consider our mothers to be our mothers. In every important sense of the word. It’s only because of their ova that we came into existence. While these three could be considered related to us in a sense they may as well be of a different species.   
However, these children are important to our mothers. Therefore they are important to us. In two days time we will make contact.   
___________________________________________________________________________

“All I’m saying is the only reason he’s interested in me at all is because of the list.” May says, playing with my hair while I try to do my homework.

“What list?” I ask, half paying attention.

“You haven’t heard about the list the football players have?” she asks, looking at me as if I’m missing a crucial piece of information.

I shake my head and she moves from lying on her stomach behind me to scoot up next to me.   
The expression on her face tells me that whatever ‘the list’ is, is easily the most important thing going on in the school. No wonder I’m clueless.

“It’s basically a fuck-it list. It’s like a bucket list, but it’s just a list of girls they want to fuck. I know Andrew is only sniffing around me so he can check off the ‘black girl’ box.”

“At the game the other day you said you wanted to eat bacon off his ass, so I really don’t get why you care,” I scoff, peering up at her through my glasses.

“It’s the principle of it!” May exclaims as I roll my eyes, put down my textbook.

“But you are only interested in him for his ass. He’s only interested in you because of a list. Both of you have motives aside from actual interest in the other person. That being said, are you really telling me you won’t have sex with him?”

“I _never_ said that. I’m just saying that I don’t appreciate his motives. Jennie was his token ‘Asian girl’. Have you heard of anything more crass than that? Still, she said he was a tiger in the sac. Hey!” She exclaimed giving my arm a soft swat, “You could probably get on his radar! Maybe he hasn’t checked the ‘redhead’ box yet.”

“No thanks. I’m good,” I say, shaking my head.

“You know, you’ll need to start dating at some point. People talk. Especially about the cute ones.”

“Aw, you think I’m cute?” I tease, earning an eyeroll. “I’m not interested in dating, May. I mean, really, what’s the point?”

“Well aside from it being nice to have someone actually show an interest in you, sex. Duh.”

“Too much effort for something I can just take care of myself.”

May just shakes her head at me, flops back onto her own bed.

“You know if you’re into girls that’s great. I can get you the numbers of some I’ve been with.”

“Just some?”

“There’s only a few who would be worthy of you, my dear,” she teases as I let out a long sigh.

“It’s not that I’m not interested or attracted to guys. I just have no interest in dating. There are way more important things for me to worry about right now.”

“You keep on with that attitude and I’ll tell you what’s going to happen: you’re going to be celibate for years. Until you and my brother finally stop beating around the bush and get together. But by that time I’ll be too old a woman to be able to enjoy it.”

Choosing to ignore her comment I find the last answer to the worksheet, hand it over to May to copy.   
“Thanks,” she says, crossing back to her desk. Now it’s my turn to lie back on my bed and stare at the ceiling.

“Do you think that our parents are still alive?” I ask after a beat before she takes one to answer.

“I don’t know why you keep thinking about this. Who even knows if we have parents? For all we know we’re test tube babies.”

“But maybe we aren’t. Maybe there’s people out there who are looking for us.”

Jumping a bit when she lies on the bed beside me I let out a sigh, fold my arms.

“I’m not dismissing the possibility that there are. I just don’t want you to get your hopes up. I’m worried you’ll start planning this whole life and then find out there’s just…no way for you to have it.”

“But I feel like I did have it, May. At least once. All the memories I have from before, those have to mean something, don’t they?”

“If they’re real,” May sighs. “Look, they might be. But think about it, if they can erase our memories what makes you think they can’t plant fake ones?”

Just thinking about that makes my head hurt. In the way it does when I’m on the verge of a long cry. Curling on my side I rest my forehead against May’s shoulder, grateful she knows without my saying it that she should stay put.


	3. Chapter 2

November 2011  
Somewhere in rural Virginia

The sun is peeking through the blinds but I’ve been up for hours. Mulder’s hand lies heavy on my hip and I feel the sudden urge to turn and curl up against him, but I don’t want to wake him. Instead I roll away from the window to face him, watch his sleeping face.

“You okay?” he asks after a few minutes, not even needing to open his eyes.   
I nod but then remember he can’t see me. Moving closer to him I curl into a ball, effectively trap my arms against his chest. He moves on instinct, wraps his arm around my back before kissing my forehead.

“Yeah,” I sight. “I just didn’t sleep well.”

“It’s her birthday,” he murmurs, his breath warming the top of my head.

“I know,” I murmur back, then lightly push him onto his back.

I straddle him and he finally opens his eyes, runs the backs of his fingers down my face.

He’s already getting hard under me, anticipating what’s coming. Using sex to sort through difficult emotions has all but become my M.O the past few years.

His hands come to rest on my hips and I tug his boxers down, just enough for his erection to spring free. I move aside the fabric of my underwear, sink onto him until he’s fully sheathed inside me and I let out a slow sigh, feeling better already.   
We move slowly at first. My hands are planted on his bare chest while his hands move to cup my breasts. He pinches my nipples between the web of his thumb and index finger and I wish it was tighter but I take what I can get. I wonder if a little pain will make this day easier. Sliding my right hand between my legs I trace small circles around my clit, taking care not to overstimulate. I’m still sensitive from earlier when I hadn’t slept, thought back on past moments between him and I instead. Ones like this, along with fantasies that I haven’t even shared with him.

I ride him slow, lazily at first before picking up the pace, while his hands slide back to my hip. He deepens his thrusts and I bite my lip, try to keep from crying out. I’m so close, teetering on the edge when he comes but I keep moving, keep watching. I almost prefer this, seeing him like this. Reaching down I run my free hand over his cheek, move my fingers faster before I follow him over the edge. Panting, collapsed against him I catch my breath, kiss him tenderly. He withdraws and I reluctantly roll off of him, duck into the bathroom to clean up. Once through I climb back into bed, snuggle closer as he rolls over. Spooning now, I cuddle closer as he plants soft kisses on my neck, leaving a mark and a little brushburn from his stubble. My lack of sleep catching up to me I yawn, close my eyes and this time around, we both sleep.  
_____________________________________________________________

November 2011  
Chicago, IL

As is tradition on my birthday, May acts as my alarm clock and jumps on my bed. Starts singing “Happy Birthday” at the top of her lungs. And as always I let out a groan, roll away from her, and cover my ears against her verbal assault.

When she finishes her song she wraps herself around me like a blanket.

“Thank God we’re finally the same age again. I was getting tired of all of your naiveté.”

I elbow her in the side and she lets out an over dramatic groan as if in pain, earning an eyeroll from me.

“Anyway, no school for you today. We’re skipping and celebrating. And then tonight there’s a bar we’re going to that’ll take our fake IDs,” May says, says knowing full well what my response will be to that.

“No.”

“Oh c’mon, can’t you just be fun for once? Even Brian agreed to come along!”

“You’re kidding, right?”

“No. He wants to celebrate with us, but you know he won’t let things get too out of hand. Why don’t you just let loose for a little bit?”

“My answer hasn’t changed, May,” I scoff, still amazed that Brian agreed to accompany us.

“Okay then, alternate plan. I get my hands on some beer, we go to the roof and we stargaze. Play some drinking game involving constellations.”

Nodding I let out a soft hum. “Hmm. Getting warmer.”

“Fine, no roof. We get wine coolers and watch Mean Girls.”

“That sounds more like it,” I say with a grin. Going out to bars was May’s method of celebrating. I preferred a comfortable couch, popcorn, and a pointless movie. Luckily May and I had the same taste. Clueless, She’s The Man, Easy A. Any of the above were likely to be on the menu, along with Mean Girls for obvious reasons. We’d watch and drink and laugh and watch Brian read. Celebrate my birthday the best way I knew.

The first birthday party I remember having took place in a hospital bed. I was five, and a was nurse whose name I can’t remember brought me a cupcake with rainbow sprinkles. I got to stick the unlit candle in it before she sang to me. There were no decorations, no party favors. I ate my cupcake and was allowed to watch some TV before they took me in for more testing. When I got back to my room there was a plush bunny rabbit on my pillow. I guessed it was from the same nurse and I cuddled with it that night. Even on a sugar buzz I slept better that night than I had in a long time.

Not long after my wake up call from May the actual alarm goes off. We get ready and head over to school. The school day goes by normal until we get to lunch.

I meet up with Brian who’s waiting outside our Biology class and we head to the cafeteria. On our way, however, May takes both of our arms, sidelines us, and before we can protest we’re being pulled out of a back door.

“What the hell, May?! We’ll get grounded for this!” I hiss but she rolls her eyes, pulls us towards the bus stop.

“Don’t be dramatic. You think Sister Sarah actually cares what we do on your birthday?” she asks, referring to the head nun at our foster home.

“Last time I checked it was her job to care.”

“Remember when we went out for Brian’s and my birthday?”

“I definitely remember.” I sigh, voice laden with sarcasm. I clearly remember the crowded dive bar where I had to stop an extremely drunk May from going home with a much older man.

“Well you clearly don’t remember Sister Sarah finding me and telling me I had one free pass.”

“One free what?”

“One free pass. For my birthday!”

“Well, note the operative word one,” I scoff. “I’m pretty sure your pass was already used.”

“Hey, mine may have been but last I checked it was your birthday. So how about you shut up and try to enjoy it,” May says, in a tone I know better than to argue with. Once she’s through with me she turns to her brother.

“So, we won’t be needing you until later in the day, darling brother. It’s up to you if you want to sit in on our mani-pedi or go do something else.”

“It’s okay, I brought a book,” Brian says, getting a paperback from his pocket.

“Let me see.”  
“May…”

Taking it from him she frowns.

“Van Gogh: The Life. A New Look at the Life and Death of Van Gogh. God, how are you so boring?”

“It’s for my art class!” Brian protests, taking it back as May shrugs, flips her hair. The bus pulls up and the three of us board, and I can’t help but smile as Brian’s hand moves to the small of my back.

____________________________________________________________________

We watch them get on the bus from our parked car and follow behind. We have no specific plan on when or how we’ll approach them. Content to wait for the right opportunity to arise.

Today is the day we’ve been waiting years for. Our planning had been top secret and underground. The last thing we needed was for the new Syndicate to discover us.   
Their awareness of our existence would be a death sentence for us. As it was, only the children lived in a controlled state where they were vaccinated every two months to continue living.

We had finally uncovered the formula and had every intention on putting that knowledge to appropriate use.   
We follow them from a nail salon, to a shopping mall, and finally to a movie theater. As they exit the theater we exchange glances, begin to approach them. It is time.


	4. Chapter 3

November 2011  
Washington D.C.

I watch the clock tick by and when my phone rings I realize I've been staring at the clock for nearly a half hour. The caller ID says ‘Mulder’ so I answer. 

 

“Hey, I’m thinking of driving into the city. We can go out to dinner. What do you think?” he asks when I pick up.

 

“That sounds nice. You pick the place and text me the time.” 

In truth I’ve been exhausted all day. All I want to do is curl up in bed or sink into a warm bath. But the hope in Mulder’s voice convinces me that he needs this. He wants to get out of the house and keep busy. Losing Emily had been his loss as well.   
Two children. We’d lost two children.   
On William’s birthday there was a measure of comfort in knowing that he was out there somewhere happy and loved. This day just reminds us of the little girl who’d had a short painful life. The little girl who’d been stolen from us right out of my womb.   
There were times after we discovered her true origins where I’d lie awake at night and picture the life we could have had. I imagined a younger me with a growing belly and a proud Mulder holding our tiny baby. In some of my saddest fantasies Melissa was with us holding her niece with a smile. In these dreams we were happy.   
I block out these daydreams now to keep myself from breaking into a million pieces. 

 

“How about a movie afterwards?” Mulder says, breaking me out of my thoughts. 

 

“Yeah, that would be nice.” I reply, meaning it. 

 

“Good. I’ll set everything up and text you.” 

 

“Sounds good.” 

 

Some time later Mulder texts me with our plans and I go back to watching the clock.   
________________________________________________________  
November 2011  
Gateway theater   
Chicago, IL

When we exit the theater a man and a woman with blank expressions on their faces accost us.   
The woman has curly brown hair reaching down to her shoulders, and a pretty open face with round eyes. The man looks like some kind of stiff android with a blond crew cut and an expressionless face. 

 

“April Meeks, May and Brian Rollins.” The man states as they stand in front of us. 

 

The three of us nod mutely. May’s hands go to her hips and her eyes narrow while Brian and I wait passively. 

 

“We don't have time to beat around the bush so we’ll tell you upfront that we know who and what you are. We are similar to you. We’ve been working since your respective births to free you from those who have kept you in an invisible cage. We know they have an antidote they give you every two months to prevent you from running away. It has taken years but we have finally cracked their formula. This means that it is time for us to escape.” 

The woman says, taking turns making eye contact with each of us. 

 

The three of us fall silent. I feel numb as I try to comprehend everything she’s telling us. 

 

“How the hell do we know we can trust you?” May asks with her usual bite. 

 

They look at each other and then back at us, “Well I suppose you don’t. But you don’t have many other options. We know you’ve been trying to find a way out. This is what we are offering,” the man says. 

 

“You’ll take us to our parents?” The words are out before I can stop them and my face grows red as Brian brushes his hand against mine.

The man and woman share another look before speaking, “Yes. But both sets of your parents believe you to be dead. That applies to all of you.”

My eyebrows rise but May speaks before I can respond. 

 

“So we're supposed to believe you found the antidote to ensure our own blood doesn’t kill us? And you expect us to trust that you won’t just do the same thing to us that these people are now? That all sounds really goddamn nice but why are you interested in looking out for us. What are we to you?” May questions.

“We care because we are related to you in a way. I was grown from the genes of your mothers. She was grown partly from their genes as well as some genes taken from April’s biological aunt. We are invested in what happens to you and your parents.” The man says. 

 

“Who are you?” Brian asks.

“My name is Samantha and this is Kurt’l the woman says, gesturing to herself and her companion. 

 

“But we do not have much time. If you want to come with us you’ll need to go back and pack now so we can leave before dark.” Kurt says.

“I want to see proof of the antidote first.” May demands.

They seem prepared for this and Samantha pulls up a briefcase she’d been holding. She hands it to Kurt to hold so she can open it and show us the contents. 

 

Inside is the same green serum they injected us with every other month. There were multiple vials of it along with syringes. 

 

“We need a moment to talk this over. Excuse us.” May says as we tear our eyes away from the briefcase.

“Understandable. We’ll return to our vehicle,” Samantha points to a car parked on the street, “If you wish to join us come to the car. We’ll drive you to the foster home where you can pack and prepare for the journey.” 

 

“Journey to where?” I ask. 

 

“Virginia.” 

 

We watch them leave and for a few moments we go silent. 

 

“What do you guys think?” May asks, breaking the silence. 

 

I shake my head and stare at my shoes, bite my lip before speaking.

“I want to believe them.”   
________________________

We end up going with Kurt and Samantha. In the end we almost feel like there’s no other choice. It's not as if we have much to lose. I leave brief notes to the Sisters, thanking them for all they did for us and giving as much of an explanation as I can. I feel some guilt over leaving them. I know they’ll dedicate time and effort in trying to find us but with what we're doing, it's probably better we not be found.

Being absent from school isn't a problem. In general we know more than our teachers and we figure wherever we end up we’ll be getting   
an education of sorts anyway. 

May is cautiously excited about the whole thing, so Brian and I sit back and let her handle everything. We make our way out of Chicago before dusk, ready to face our futures. 

“April. Wake up! April! We’re in Pittsburgh. It’ll be our last stop for a while.” I wake up to May shaking my shoulder and I groan, turn away from her. 

 

“C’mon. If you don’t go now you’ll have to pee in a couple of hours,” she says, continuing to shake my shoulders.  
“We’re getting food, April.”

That gets my attention. 

 

Rubbing my eyes I get up and follow her inside where Kurt, Samantha, and Brian are waiting in line at McDonald’s. 

 

It takes eighteen hours for us to get to Washington D.C. We’d been driving for ten. It seems Kurt and Samantha don't have the same kind of human needs as the rest of us. They didn't seem to get tired when driving and we'd hardly stopped for bathroom breaks. Even food didn't seem very important to them. 

 

I walk over and stand next to Brian, rest my forehead against his shoulder and rest my eyes. Around the six-hour mark a wave of exhaustion had hit me and it hadn’t gone away since. 

 

Brian, anticipating my need, touches my arm. Feeling a new wave of energy I gave his hand a squeeze in thanks.   
He's always been the most special of the three of us. May and I were smart, sure, but he was extraordinary. May insisted we would develop special skills at some point. I didn’t really care either way. All that I really wanted was to be normal and to finally have a home. 

 

Kurt and Samantha buy us each a meal and before we leave we go to the bathroom. As soon as I finish my food in the car my eyes grow heavy again and I slowly slip into the fantasy world I’d created. One where I have a family.   
Brian and May have always done a good job filling that void, but deep down I’ve always wanted parents. A mom to curl up next to and watch a corny movie with; a dad to take me to baseball games. Typical kid stuff that every other typical kid has and typically underappreciates. Typical kids don't know how could they have it. 

Sometimes when May does my hair I close my eyes and picture a woman with my hair and eyes running her manicured fingers over my scalp.   
These fantasies blur into dreams as we continue to drive.


	5. Chapter 4

November 2011  
Somewhere in rural Virginia

My office is plastered with articles, news reports, and various pictures of mythological creatures. I run my eyes over the now familiar makeshift wallpaper and begin to hate the lack of personal touches. What I see before me is an empty life.

I have a few pictures on my desk. There’s one of Scully and I on the beach during our vacation in Mexico a few years back. Her skin is freckled and sun kissed, makeup free. The big smile on her face helps ease the ache that threatens to overwhelm me most days.

Another photo is the first Christmas her and I had with her mother after I was no longer considered a fugitive. Bill had been there and I got to meet Scully”s younger brother Charlie. He seemed to tolerate me but Bill was the same as ever, maybe worse. Maggie was just happy to see us again.

When Scully and I wound up under the mistletoe Charlie started chanting for us to kiss and Maggie happened to have her camera ready. The third and final photo is one that’s been on my desk for as long as I’ve had one. One of Samantha and I when we were kids.

Hidden inside the top drawer are two photos that are too painful to have in plain sight.   
One is of Scully and William that we took the last time I saw our son. In the photo both of us are looking at William like he was the first baby ever born. Maggie took it when she came into the apartment to see us just sitting on the bed admiring the baby. Scully is sitting between my legs and I’m wrapped around her. Every time I look at the photo I revisit the memory and feel the pain of loss.

The other is a photo of Emily that Scully was able to get her hands on. She is sitting on a swing with a big smile on her face. That photo does other things to me. Along with the pain of loss comes red hot anger and a real hatred for the people that killed her. I remember how while she lived I never even knew she was mine.

These pictures rarely leave the drawer. They sit under a pile of papers hidden away until the moments when the pain becomes too much. When the tide of memories overcome me and I can’t escape them I lay the pictures out side by side, wallow in the pain and I wait. Wait until Scully comes home.

These days that’s all I wait for though. In the mornings I go on my three mile run before lifting weights in the basement. After that I shower, shave, then sit in my office. Do some work on the book I’ve been writing for the past eight years. Or maybe lose myself in some pornography.

The days go by slowly and after making dinner, I practically count the minutes til Scully walks in the door and I can kiss her, hold her, wrap myself in her warmth or offer some up to her on the cold nights. We eat and do the dishes and curl up in front of the news or a movie. Sometimes we play games or get drunk, or sometimes we just talk.

Some nights when she’s not too exhausted I race her upstairs and we fuck like rabbits or make slow lazy love all night and into the next day. She scolds me for making her late for work but if she really objected she wouldn’t instigate it so much.

Today I’ve been restless though. I think about calling a cab and going into the city but I have no idea what I’d do once I got down there.   
The clock tells me it’s 4:40. Too late for Scully’s lunch. That’s usually my excuse for going downtown. I know she’d be fine with seeing me but I don’t want to show up while she’s in surgery and be forced to deal with another one of her coworkers. I’m not very social these days.

My fingers twitch over the keyboard and I search the one thing Scully tells me never to look up: 2002 adoption records.

A year ago I found the record of a baby who matches William exactly. He was listed under the name ‘Van De Kamp’. It didn’t take Scully long to realize that I’d been looking for him and she begged me to stop, knowing if I did end up finding him we’d be desperate to go to him, undoing the future she sought for him when she’d given him up.  
Today the urge to find his record is too strong and I silently apologize to Scully before I type in the name. Before I can press the enter button though, an email notification pops up in the bottom right corner. It’s from a blocked address. I’m intrigued.   
I get the occasional email from old sources about paranormal activity. When it seems important or interesting enough I’ll travel to wherever they are and check it out. Since I was exonerated, the biggest change is how free I am to travel. I open the email and am immediately confused by the content.

_Mr. Mulder,_

_We know there are many mysteries in your life that have never been solved, as well as many wounds that have never been healed._  
We have the answer to one of those mysteries. If you are willing we can reveal some of the workings of the sub-government. One that we both know runs everything.   
We must warn you this information will be dangerous for both you and Dr. Scully, but I can promise you both that it will be worth it.   
Both of you must make the decision to take part. If you are interested in what we have to say respond to this email with a simple ‘Yes’ and you will be sent further instructions. 

_Kurt Crawford_

When I read the name at the bottom my mind is blank until it comes back to me. The bland face of the clone who had helped me find Scully’s ova all those years ago. The clones called Scully one of their mothers and had wanted to help me find a cure for her cancer and infertility. They were all destroyed before they could be of much help, at least I thought they were all destroyed.

Kurt’s use of the word ‘we’ instead of ‘I’ makes me uncomfortable. I wonder how many of him that there were and thought back to the child clones on the farm. I pictured the Samantha clone walking with the clone of Kurt Crawford and felt a headache coming on as I thought about what he, maybe even her clone could have to offer us. I also wonder if this is worth opening old wounds. I decide though nothing can be done until Scully gets home.   
By the time I get back to my original task, searching for William, I had enough self-control to close the tab and go for another run. Scully would be home soon. We’d figure it out together.

_________________  
November 2011   
An hour outside Washington D.C.

“How much longer do you think we have?” May asks as she shifts again in the cramped backseat.   
We’d been taking turns sitting the middle and it was currently my turn. May was a fidgeter though and it was beginning to drive me crazy. If we didn’t arrive soon I was sure I’d wind up strangling her.

“An hour,” comes the short reply from Samantha.

“What will we do when we get there?” May asks in the same irritated voice. She was starting to remind me of a little kid asking ‘are we there yet?’.

“We’ll get hotel rooms for ourselves, eat dinner, and sleep,” Samantha responds again.   
I can practically hear May’s eye roll.

“C’mon. You have to know what I mean.”

I swear I see a small smirk cross Samantha’s face but it’s gone before I can be sure.

“Nothing significant will happen until tomorrow. We have to find a safe spot to meet our contact and then we’ll see what happens.”

“See what happens? Really? So we’re basically flying blind?” May exclaims, moving again and elbowing me in the ribs.   
I shoot her a dirty look and she rolls her eyes but settles down in her seat.

“We have a plan.” Kurt interjects.

“You just don’t know what it is,” May snorts, flapping her hand around in the air.

“Do our parents even know about us?” Brian asks, talking for the first time in a few hours.

He’s met with silence from the front seat.

“Well?” May asks.

“No. But we have been in contact with them,” Kurt answers.

“They all live around D.C?” I ask, now interested.

Kurt shakes his head, “May and Brian’s parents are separated. Their mother lives in Maryland and their father in Georgia. Your parents live about an hour outside of D.C.”

The mention of my parents made my stomach flip in excitement.

“D.C. seemed like a good place to meet. May and Brian, your mother takes monthly business trips into the city where she will be tomorrow. April your mother works in the city.” Kurt continues.

“So they will all be there?”

More silence.

“We do not know. We have contacted all of them. Now we wait,” Samantha says.


	6. Chapter 5

November 2011  
Somewhere in rural Virginia

“Mulder, this is ridiculous! You have no idea who these people are!! For all we know this could be a giant trap! And a good one too because it’s working!” Scully exclaims, throwing her arms in the air to punctuate her irritation.

“It wouldn’t hurt for us to respond and see what they have to say, Scully. We could call Skinner and bring along our own guns. What is the worst that could happen? Some jackass tries to play us? We’ve dealt with that, but never with an incentive at the end like the one they’re talking about here.”

I let out a sigh, run my hands over my face.

“The last time I saw Kurt Crawford –or his clones I guess–all of them wanted to help you. They considered you one of their mothers. they hated to see you in pain. Hell, they were the ones who gave me your ova, along with a lot of other critical information. I think we can trust Kurt.”

“How do we know that note was really from him?”

“We don’t. But there’s only one way to find out.”

____________________

November 2011  
Baltimore, Maryland

The house is as quiet as it’s ever been but for the occasional jingle of the cat playing with her toys. My life has just been one long lonely day, at least until I got the message. The message about my babies.

In 1994 I was married, pregnant with my twins, and happy. Within a year my children were gone, I was left barren, and my husband and I were separated. He moved on and had a family, leaving me behind with my grief.

I’d always assumed that my babies had died while I was missing, but this message makes me believe otherwise. There were details about my abduction and pregnancy that were so personal. I called Gary.  
He got the same message. I asked him if he would go, if we could meet there but he refused. He didn’t deny that whoever it was sounded credible, he just was not interested in stirring up his life.   
He’d moved on only a couple years after our divorce and I never remarried. I became a bit of a recluse even.   
I spent my free time going to MUFON meetings and trying to find answers. I met other women who had similar experiences.  
There were other women in the group who said they’d been pregnant when they were taken and were then left barren. Many of them found their lives falling apart afterwards and all of us felt an indescribable bond.  
When I found them they told me about the chip in the back of my neck and all of them had removed theirs. I went to the doctor to get it removed but as I sat in the waiting room something felt off and I left. In the end I was glad I never removed it.   
The first woman in our group was diagnosed not long after I joined and soon they all were sick. I lost all of my best friends within a year. By the end we’d connected the dots between the removal of the chip and the cancer. There was no sure answer but I never got sick and I was the only one who never grew ill.   
All of my friends died before we could figure out what happened to us. Since then I have stuck mostly to myself.  
At this rate, I don’t have anything to lose taking this meeting. But at least I might gain some answers.

__________________

November 2011  
The Freedom Inn  
Washington D.C.

“Are you nervous?” I ask May as we wait.   
She’s been too quiet. Brian’s taking a shower or else he’d be calming her down. Right now though I’m all she has.

Sensing that she lays her head on my shoulder. “Why do you think my father didn’t want to see us?”

“I don’t know, May. Maybe he doesn’t believe them,” I shrug, wondering why my own parents have yet to respond.

“Or maybe he doesn’t want us.”

I consider this carefully, start to wonder if this is the case with my parents. A sick feeling begins in my stomach.

Why would they want us? We’re freaks. I hadn’t considered that my parents would not want me but it would make sense.

Turning I look at Kurt who’s sitting at the table.

“What did you tell our parents?”

He looks up but isn’t turning around.

“I told them I had information about their children. I did not go into detail.”

“But why have my parents not responded?” I ask, trying to keep my anxiety out of my voice.

“Your parents are not trusting. They have been through quite a bit so it is justified. I would imagine they are trying to make sure it’s not some kind of trick.”

“What about my father?” May asks.

“Your mother and father separated not long after the both of you were taken. He moved on and has another family. I would imagine he does not want to delve into painful memories. He doesn’t know that you both are alive. We might let him know later but for now it’s too dangerous to show our hand,” Kurt says with little emotion.

May looks at me and I rub her back. I know hearing that her family might have moved on hurts.

“How will they know it’s us?” I finally ask.

“They will know.”

After a beat Kurt turns to look at me, speaks again.

“Your parents have met you before, April.”

Frowning, I try and take in this information. Unsure what to make of it.

“What?” I mumble. It’s the only word that crosses my now parched lips.

“They knew you as Emily Sim.” He looks at me meaningfully for a moment but continues, “You’re adopted mother was murdered. By chance your biological mother found you. She hadn’t even known you existed until that point. She was trying to adopt you when the men controlling your fate faked your death. Back then they had not fully perfected the injections. You’re blood was green and toxic. After a few years of study they put you back into the normal world. I imagine they did something to your memory.” 

Images begin to flash before my eyes and I press the heel of my hands to them, trying to protect myself from the pain.

My mother is lying in a bathtub. Her blood is all over the floor. My father is being arrested. A gold cross necklace is around my neck. I am watching cartoons in the hospital. The rest is faces I can’t make sense of and voices I barely recognize. I feel sick to my stomach.

“April?” May asks as I shake my head, look at her blankly.

“I…I think I remember them.”


	7. Chapter 6

November 2011   
Location unknown

“How the hell did this happen?!” I yell at the useless clone before me.   
“They were working with someone. We have yet to find out who.” Spender’s clone responds as he puts another cigarette between his lips.   
I swat it out of his mouth in anger, “Check fucking security cameras! Talk to witnesses! Do what you have to do to find them! They are too valuable to lose!”   
“I understand ma’am but it may become more complicated if it turns out Mulder and Scully are involved…” He has the grace to look nervous as he suggests this.   
“If they get involved I will burn up your body and build a new one of you. It’s been done before. Maybe the next one will actually be able to do it’s fucking job. I don’t want to hear any more excuses take care of it.”   
The clone just stares at me for a moment and then nods, “And if Mulder and Scully are involved?”   
“Kill them.” I say and I feel a faint protest deep inside but push it aside.   
“I doubt it will be that easy.”   
“All I hear are more excuses.”   
“What if the children fight back?”   
“Don’t kill them. You can knock them out, sedate them, or anything else to get them to come with you but don’t kill them.” I make a mental note to talk to my biological engineer about making the clones more effective.   
“Who would you like me to take?”   
I look around the room at the various clones that we have in constant circulation. They are the syndicate. All of them have the memories and personalities of the real men who, in their pride, decided to record their consciousness before they died. I doubt they imagined it would be used in this way. That it would be used to make them slaves rather than leaders. That they would be forced to take their orders from a woman.   
A small smile forms on my lips as I recall all of the times they gave me various orders and degraded me.  
I have to admit that I get a sick kind of pleasure in seeing these once powerful men that I used to work for reduced to my lackeys.   
“Take Krycek and some back up. Next time I hear from you it better be to tell me you found them or you won’t live to try again.” I warn as he nods and walks away.   
“Jeffrey!” I snap and he materializes at my side.  
“Yes Diana?” He asks.   
“I want you to go keep an eye on Mulder and Scully. I don’t want them getting in the way of this. Take some of the grunts with you.”   
“Do you still want them dead if they interfere?”   
I pause at this. It’s been years since I’ve seen Fox but I still find my heart beats a little faster when I hear his name. I allow myself this one moment of weakness before I answer him.  
“Kill them and anyone else who tries to help them.”

 

November 2011  
The Eagle 24- hour Café   
Washington D.C.

“Mulder it’s been two hours. No one is coming. It must have been some kind of prank.” I say slumped in my seat watching Mulder crush sunflower seeds between his teeth.   
“Just a little while longer Scully. They did say in the message between eight and midnight.” Mulder tells me, his eyes still focused intensely on the building in front of us.   
I sigh, “And that doesn’t seem a little odd to you?”   
“Of course it does. That’s why Skinner is on call. And why I did all that fancy maneuvering to make sure we were not followed.”  
I fiddle with the radio for a while until we see a nondescript car pull into the dark parking lot.   
I sit up and we watch as five people exit the car. Mulder puts the binoculars up to his eyes and I hear a sharp intake of breath.   
“What?” He doesn’t respond so I touch his arm, “Mulder, what is it?”   
“The clones of Samantha and Kurt Crawford.” He says softly.   
I take the binoculars from him and look for myself. The Kurt clone opens the door for the rest of the odd little group while he glances around suspiciously.   
With Kurt and Samantha are three teenagers who also seem jumpy. My eyes zero in on the girl with the red hair. There is a pang in my heart that I can’t account for when I look at her long red hair. I can’t get a look at her face as she tends to the girl with her.  
“Mulder…” I start.   
“Yeah I saw. It might be bait Scully. I mean they are sitting there with clones…”   
I am out the door before he can continue. Something is pulling me forward and I can’t name it. But I don’t stop until I reach the door and make eye contact with the Samantha clone. She nods her head at me and I feel a churning in my stomach.   
It’s as if my instincts have taken over, there are almost no thoughts in my head.   
“Scully wait…” Mulder says in a loud whisper as he runs over to me. I do wait for him.   
He comes up behind me and places a hand on the small of my back while he peers at my face.   
“Do you want to go in?” He asks.   
My eyes have not left the clones and I just nod. He opens the door for me and leads me in. Mulder’s hand on my back as usual is my anchor to reality as I try to decipher the confusing thoughts in my head.   
The whole table looks up at us as we enter. I freeze when I see her.   
She looks so different but I just know it’s her.   
It’s Emily.   
She blinks at me with hazel eyes. Her nose is long and straight but as a small closed lip smile crosses her face all I see is Mulder. I see him in her tall thin frame and bright eyes and it nearly kills me.  
My hands fly to my mouth and Mulder stops in his tracks.   
I can feel him shaking behind me as she gets up from her seat to stand before us.   
“Emily?” I say ready to sink to the floor.   
She nods silently and takes a step toward us but before she can I, against my better judgment, move forward and swallow her in my arms.   
The tears start almost right away. I picture myself before my abduction as I always have when I think of her. I picture how young I was and as always kick myself for not knowing I was pregnant, as if there was anything I could do about it.   
“I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry.” I hear the words coming from my mouth like a chant.   
Her arms wrap around me, “You don’t need to be.”   
“I gave up on you. I let you go. I should have fought for you.” All of the guilt that has haunted me for sixteen years pours out. 

______________________________________________________________________________________________

What surprises me first about my mother is how small she is. I wouldn’t call myself tall but I’m on the high end of average.   
But here stands my biological mother who is practically swallowed by the man next to her.   
They both stare at me like they’ve seen a ghost. And I suppose to them they have seen a ghost.   
When she calls me Emily I don’t bother to correct her. That’s all she knows me as.   
I let her cry and hold me close and I feel my own held back tears flow from my eyes.   
The warmth from her sinks into my bones and I feel myself slump in her arms. Her love is nearly overwhelming and I shake with it. Both of us begin to sink to the floor but are caught by the man who came in with her.   
When I look at him it’s my own eyes looking back at me. Kurt told me a little about them, about how hard their lives have been and I see it etched into every line of his face, as he looks at me, unbelieving.   
My mother gradually lets go of me when she feels his hand on her back. She puts her hand to my cheek and wipes away a tear before she moves out of the way and he moves slowly, as if afraid he will spook me.   
He tilts his head slightly and his eyes narrow just a bit as he takes in my face. His hands move to my shoulders and then I remember something.   
The image of this exact man but so much younger making a silly face in the foster center I was staying at. It was the first time I’d laughed since my mom’s death.   
I practically lunge at him and wrap my arms around his middle. He’s taken off guard by this but quickly pulls me close and I feel the wetness on his cheek against the top of my head.   
I can hear my mother talking to Kurt but I can’t hear anything except for the heartbeat of my father.   
That’s when I realize I have parents.   
They are real and they are here. After years of doubting and worry here they are in the flesh.   
“We can’t stay here.” Kurt’s voice breaks the spell.   
I feel my father’s hand cup the back of my head as he lays a kiss on my hair before releasing me to my mother beside us who’s worry is palpable. She takes my hand in both of hers but her eyes stay on Kurt.   
“Follow us.” He says and keeps looking around like he’s been doing since we left the motel.   
Both May and Brian watch us with bright eyes. Meeting their mother at a new motel is the next item on the agenda.   
“We’re not leaving her.” My mother’s voice comes out shaky.   
“Take her in your car then but we need to go.”   
“Where?” My father asks.  
“Just follow us.”

________________________________________________________________________________________________

We are silent on the way across the street to our SUV. I hold on to Emily as we cross and both Mulder and I are continually looking back and forth to make sure we are not being watched.   
I get in the back of the car next to our daughter while Mulder gets behind the steering wheel. As he pulls out behind Kurt he puts his cell phone next to his ear. Emily’s fingers are long, thin, and intertwined with my own. I can still feel my heartbeat in my ears and I can’t stop looking around to look for signs of being followed.   
“Hey… Yeah… Everything is fine for now. I can’t tell you what’s up yet but I’ll call you again later tonight.” Mulder says into the phone and I know he is talking to Skinner.  
“Thanks again. I’ll keep you updated.”   
He hangs up as Kurt makes a sharp unexpected turn, driving like a madman.  
“Where have you been?” I can’t stop the question from passing my lips as I turn to look at Emily.   
Her eyes are sad, “My first memories are right after I turned five. I was in a hospital in Wisconsin. I got moved around for a few years until I was finally placed in a Catholic foster center in Chicago where I’ve been since I was ten.”   
We’d been to Chicago after losing her. One time when we were on the run we spent a whole week in northern Illinois. The pain of knowing I was in the same state as her twice is too much to bare.   
I hold her fingers tighter, “I’m sorry we didn’t find you.”   
“Kurt said you thought I was dead.” She says.   
I nod and glance up at Mulder who meets my eyes briefly in the rearview.   
“I was lying with you when you died. I don’t… I don’t understand how this is possible. I was there when it happened. Though at your funeral we did discover that your body was missing… It was awful.” I feel the pain from that day all over again and it’s her turn to squeeze my hand.   
“You don’t remember anything from before your fifth birthday?” I ask after a beat.   
“I remember little things. Snap shots of my life but nothing that really makes sense of things. Recently things have become a little clearer.” She looks down at our hands, “Kurt told me all about how you both found me. Told me I was living with adoptive parents until they were killed.” She looks up at my face with wet eyes, “He said you were trying to adopt me.”   
I nod, “I didn’t know you existed until then, Emily I’m so sorry.”   
She gives me a small awkward smile, “They renamed me. April Meeks.”   
I take in this information and roll the name over in my head. It’s almost more appropriate that she isn’t going by her old name.   
April seems appropriate too. It’s a month full of hope and fear at the same time. April means spring is coming. Looking at my own April I pray that our own spring is coming.  
I put a hand to her cheek, “April.”   
She covers my hand with her own.


	8. Chapter 7

November 2011   
The Green Creek Motel   
Right outside of Washington D.C.

As I wait in the parking lot a sudden fear comes over me. I remember my abduction and begin to panic a bit.   
All the email said was that they had information on my children and gave me an address.  
It’s been an hour that I’ve been sitting here waiting and with every passing minute I grow tenser.   
After an eternity a car followed closely by an SUV enter the parking lot. I feel for my gun. Not long after my abduction I bought it and have kept it near ever since.   
A man exits the car and looks right at me and nods.   
I carefully get out of my car, holding my gun in my coat pocket.   
He looks in the window of the car and gives another nod.   
A door opens and a girl and boy get out. They look at me for some time. I know who they are on instinct. They are my babies. The ones who were stolen from me, thought to be dead. Here they are standing in front of me.   
It feels like I’m moving through molasses as I cross to them. They stand side by side and look at me. My daughter looks me right in the eyes with curiosity. In the girl’s face I see myself as a teenager, her bright, wide, almond shaped eyes and narrow face take me back to a more innocent time.   
My boy’s eyes dart around and he shuffles his feet. He is the spitting image of his father and it breaks my heart for a moment. He has the thick eyebrows and high cheekbones that an eighteen year old me fell in love with. The one thing of mine he does have are my eyes. When they finally meet mine they are serious but tender.   
We just stand there looking at each other for the longest time. Finally I reach out and put a hand on each of their cheeks. I barely make contact before my girl throws herself into my arms and buries her face in my neck. I cradle the back of her head and cup my son’s cheek. The moment I do I’m overtaken my emotions of all kinds.   
Fear, sadness, joy, confusion, anxiety, almost anything you can name.   
Finally it all zeros in on love and he joins his sister in the hug.   
For the first time in sixteen years my life feels full.  
_________________________________________________  
_________________________________________________

We move into a suite room at the motel that made me wonder how big the regular rooms were. Eight people in the room made it a bit crowded but most of the group didn’t care or even seem to notice.   
I can’t stop looking at Emily- April. Since we saw her both Scully and I have been unable to stop from touching her. As soon as we are out of the car my hand is on her back and her hand was still held tightly in Scully’s own.   
It was as if she was tethering us to this world. Deep down I worried that if I let her out of my sight she’d be gone again.   
We stood in the packed room I have on hand on April’s shoulder and the other on Scully’s. April’s hair is redder than her mother’s, closer to what Scully’s hair had been like at the beginning of our partnerships, and she is taller than her too.   
My thoughts begin to wander down a sad path as I picture her as a little girl with a toothless smile. All the time we missed makes me angry and sad at the same time.  
The clones walk to the center of the room to face us. It still stings to see the clone of Samantha. I make eye contact with her and she quickly looks away.   
“There are currently dangerous people looking for you.” He gestures to the three teens, “We knew this would happen of course but now that you are all together you need to understand that you can’t go back to your normal lives. I can promise you that they are watching your homes right now and are just waiting for the opportunity to strike. They wouldn’t hurt the children but I can promise they would not hesitate to kill you.” He makes eye contact with each of the adults.   
I notice the boy, whose name I’ve learned is Brian, reach out and take April’s free hand. She intertwines her fingers with his and Scully and I share a look.   
“Who are these people?” May and Brian’s mother speaks up we have yet to be introduced but I can tell she’s been in as much pain as we have over the years.   
“A different group than the ones that originally took your children. Led by a woman named Diana Fowley.”   
My mouth falls open and Scully gasps, “It can’t be. She’s dead.”   
Kurt shook his head, “Her death was faked. For some time she was running but near the end of Spender’s life she came back and took over. It turns out the old man has always had a back up plan. Years ago he’d made clones of all of the members of the syndicate and of the men who worked for them. So Fowley took over these operations. At this time she has some of the clones out looking for you.”   
“Clones of who?” Scully asks with narrowed eyes.  
“CGB Spender, Krycek, Jeffery Spender, the entire syndicate. Along with some lesser hit men.”   
I meet Scully’s eyes and see the fear. She pulls April closer to her.   
“So what are we supposed to do now?” I ask somewhat irritated that we’d never been let in on this plan.   
“There are safe houses. We will move all of you to one of those and you will probably have to be moved a few times before you can settle down again.”   
“Will we be separated?” May asks in a small voice.   
Kurt and Samantha look at each other for a moment and there is silence that is broken by April.   
“We are not going anywhere without each other! You won’t separate us!” She said in a tone that left no room for argument. Both Brian and May nodded in agreement.   
“It will be more dangerous with all of you together.”   
“Doesn’t matter. We won’t be separated.” May said evenly.  
Kurt sighed and looked to his companion again, “I suppose we can make it work. But understand there is a higher chance of being caught.”   
I feel Scully stiffen and I squeeze her shoulder. We don’t know what their lives have been like. It pains me to think that they would have to be separated. We may be their parents but the truth of the matter is that for most of their lives they haven’t known us.   
This time Brian speaks and I realize it’s the first time I’ve heard his voice, “We need to be together.”   
Both Kurt and Samantha nod.   
“Alright then. We have new cars out back. We need to move now.”  
__________________________________________________

November 2011  
Somewhere in New Jersey

My parents and May and Brian’s mom, who we learned was named Violet Bennett, took turns driving the SUV that held all of us. We follow behind Kurt and Samantha. I don’t pay much attention to where we were going but I know we are headed north. My father drives mostly as both mothers seem reluctant to leave our sides. He takes it in stride and seems to want to drive anyway.   
When he does move back with us he moves to the very back to sit next to me. I can’t hold back the barrage of questions, ones similar to the questions I had been asking my mother. He smiles and responds to all of them happily. When I noticed his how heavy his eyelids are getting I shut up to let him sleep. I begin to feel sleepy not long after and start to wad up my jacket to use as a pillow until a long forgotten memory comes to me of him holding me as a little girl. I remember feeling so sick but safe when he carried me to the car and again into the hospital.   
I look over at him and note the differences in his face. In my memories he is so young, almost boyish, now his face is lined and he looks tired. On instinct I rest my head on his shoulder.   
He shifts and puts his arm around me and I think of all the times in my life I tried to picture my father. He’s different than I imagined but so much better. As he seems to be falling back asleep I feel a soft kiss on my head and quickly fall asleep as well.  
__________________________________________________

November 2011  
Location unknown

I clench my fists in barely restrained anger as the clone of Jeffrey Spender tells me over the phone that he can’t find Mulder and Scully.   
“How?” I say through clenched teeth, “How could you possibly lose them?”   
“I don’t know. Scully left in the morning like she usually does. Around lunchtime Mulder took a taxi to take lunch with her. I followed them to the hospital. Mulder came out an hour later and went to the library. I waited outside there for hours and he never came out. Finally I called the hospital and asked for Scully and they said she had left for the day. When I went in he was gone. They must have known they were being followed. They didn’t leave any kind of trail.” He says flatly.   
I pinch the bridge of my nose, “There has to be leads of some kind. Get one of our people in the police department to track their cars..”   
“If they haven’t changed cars.”   
“Just do it!” I yelled into the phone and look up at the clone of a once great man. His jowls jiggle as he talks. His voice is arrogant as ever even as he stands before me, his superior.   
“Ma’am we have found information on who helped the children who escaped. We believe they are responsible for contacting Mulder and Scully also.”   
I looked at him waiting for more, “Well are you going to keep me waiting?”   
He held out a folder, which I opened to see a picture of the clones of Kurt Crawford and Samantha Mulder talking to the three teens.   
“Goddammit! How the hell did this happen? I thought all of these things were dead!”  
“We did too ma’am. I am not sure how any survived we are working on that as well. Would you like us to use some of our people in the FIB to get their pictures out there?”   
I nodded and flicked my hand to show him he’s dismissed while I stared at the picture wondering how it was possible. There was documentation of the clones being destroyed. Their production was watched over carefully and their numbers were always well documented. When they eradicated the clones, or when they tried to, the numbers matched up.   
The other clone members of the syndicate were sitting around the room waiting for orders. Their silence was eerie but I’d grown used to it.   
I slammed my hand on the desk in frustration and they all turned to look at me.   
“Will you idiots go make yourselves fucking useful?!” I growled at them, “Go through the old files and videos. Call our people on the inside. Do some actual intel! Just do something besides sit here uselessly!”   
They scattered like roaches while I massaged my forehead. There were so many unanswered questions. Besides the fact that the clones shouldn’t exist there also is the question of why they thought they could run. The way they have tied the three teens down for years has been through the monthly injections. They must have found a way around it and I know that I need to find out how. If I find out how the Kurt and Samantha clones got their hands on the formula I’ll hopefully be able to work backwards to find out who is on the inside.   
Eventually we would find them. With a plan like that there had to be a network of others working with them and all it takes is one weak link to break the chain.


	9. Chapter 8

November 2011  
Middle of nowhere New York State  
_____

I shake my head to myself as I watch my brother sleep peacefully still holding our mother’s hand. I’ve kept my hands to myself for a while.   
After the initial excitement wore off I became weary, because someone needed to be weary. Seeing my ‘mother’ for the first time incited an emotional response in me when I first saw her but now I sit and wonder if we’re being taken for a ride.  
Why am I supposed to trust these people? I don’t know them. I don’t know the two stiff robot like people in the car in front of us, or the two pathetic people that have been fawning over April since they saw her, and I especially don’t know the woman sitting next to me claiming to be my mother.   
She might sense my distrust because she hasn’t tried to hold me or engage me in conversation much since our initial meeting.   
I’d never been like April when it came to the topic of parents. April would spend hours wondering about her parents and creating imaginary worlds where she had a family but I was never interested.   
Parents seemed overrated to me. My plan had always remained the same: leave the home at 18 with April and Brian and never look back. As long as I had the two of them I would be fine. Why did I need a mother?   
Brian never talked about our parents and I had no way of knowing if he thought about them at all but now that we were with our ‘mother’ he seemed happy as can be.   
I curled into myself and looked out the side window wishing it could just go back to the three of us. The music on my ipod is background noise to my overbearing thoughts.  
In between songs in the backseat I hear April and her birth mother talking in low voices. I have little interest in whatever they are discussing. If I were honest with myself I’d recognize that I’m feeling slightly jealous. April has always turned to me for everything but now she has two people who can give things to her that I never could.   
I feel a little bit like I’m losing my best friend.   
It’s dark in the car and I can see the stars clearly through the window. I’m exhausted even though I’ve just been sitting in a car all day.   
April’s father is driving and finishing up a call with the clones. I’ve learned a lot about April’s parents from all of the questions she’s asked since we got in the car. His name is Fox Mulder, her name is Dana Scully. They’ve been together for over twenty years and worked for the FBI.   
Meanwhile my mother has remained a mystery for the most part only giving us bare details. To be fair neither Brain nor I have been as talkative.   
Normally I would be leading the charge and asking all kinds of questions but I’m too worn out to engage this total stranger.   
“We’ll be stopping for the night in an hour.” Mulder announces from the front seat.   
I pull out my headphones, “Stopping where?”   
He gives a small shrug, “He wouldn’t say.”   
I throw myself back in the seat and cross my arms, “Naturally.”   
He glances back and me and gives an awkward smile of agreement. He wants to bond. I refuse and turn my head to look out the window.   
‘Maybe she hates me…’   
I hear the voice of Violet, my mother, speak softly in my ear and I turn to look at her but she is just looking down at her lap.   
‘If she would stop acting like such a brat…’   
Whispered April’s voice, but when I turn around her head is resting on her mother’s shoulder and her eyes are closed.   
‘God keep us safe… God keep us safe…. God keep us safe…’   
When I hear Scully’s soft prayer I finally realize what’s going on: I’m getting my gift. None of them have spoken aloud, I heard it in my mind.   
The realization thrills me and I turn in my seat.   
“A…” I say and shake her shoulder.   
She looks at me, irritated, “Yes?” ‘She’s going to complain…’  
“It’s happening! I’ve got my gift!” I whisper-shout.   
Her brows furrow, “What?”   
“Like how Brian can do his thing,” I say gesturing to my brother who has turned to listen, “I can read minds.”   
I can hear something like a snort in April’s mind and Brian gives a small sigh.   
“No! Really! Test me.” I say excitedly.   
‘May is a weirdo.’   
I hear it clearly in April’s voice.   
“Shut up you’re weirder.” I respond aloud.   
She leans forward with a smile.   
‘No way!’  
“Yes way!”   
“That’s so cool! I’ll have to watch it from now on then huh?” She says with a smile. The adults in the car have been listening in tense silence.   
‘You’re freaking them out.’   
Brian thinks to me and I hear it clear as a bell.   
‘Well they can get over it.’   
I think and see Brian sit up with wide eyes. I turn around to see April looking at me the same way.  
‘Did you guys hear that?’   
They both nod.   
‘This is going to be sweet.’ I think to them and we all share a smile.

_____

November 2011  
Turin, New York  
_____

The cabin is small but each of us is able to find a spot to sleep. It’s off season but the clones seemed to know the owners of the little resort so we were able to get the cabin that is farthest away from the road. The air is frigid and I am thankful for the heavy blanket that is covering me. May is lying next to me, listening to her music and likely asleep, and my mother will sleep on my other side.   
At the moment she and my father have gone outside to ‘talk’. Ever since May’s realization a couple hours ago the three of us have been in almost constant mental communication.   
At times it’s patchy but we’ve gotten pretty good at it.   
May thinks it’s a good way to keep things from the adults. I don’t want to keep things from my parents but I can’t deny that it’s become a nice private place for the three of us.   
Brian is lying at my feet and staring up at the ceiling in silence. He’s been contemplative since meeting his mother.   
I give him a small kick and he flashes me his own sweet smile.   
Wrapping the blanket around myself, I get up and move to sit on the floor next to him.   
May is lying closest to the fireplace but the warmth and light from it touches Brian and I as he sits up and I lay my head on his shoulder.   
“Are you scared?” I whisper to him.   
His own mother is a couple feet away from him and looks fast asleep. He glances over at her and gives a small shrug.   
“Not scared really. Nervous, yes. Our lives have always been filled with fear this is the first time I’ve actually felt free though.”   
“May doesn’t think we’re free.” I say and shiver a little bit from the cold.   
Brian takes his own blanket and wraps it around both of us as he puts his arm around my shoulder.   
“Someone needs to be suspicious.”  
I smile and snuggle closer to him and close my eyes.   
“I think you’re right. I think we’re free, or at least more free.”   
He kisses the top of my head in response.   
“Besides that, for the first time I actually feel safe.” I say before falling into a deep sleep. 

______

“They won’t give it to us until we reach the border.” Mulder says as he runs a hand through his hair.   
“They told you that?” I ask.   
He nods, “Kurt insisted that they escort us to a safe house across the border before we are give the serum and let us make our own choices. Until then we’re stuck with them.”   
“We can’t be more than a few hours from the border.”   
“My phone says we’re about three hours away from Ottawa but I think they are wanting to take us further than that.”   
“How do we know we can trust them?” I finally ask the question that has been on both of our minds since we first spotted them.   
Mulder shrugs.   
Until now we’d been running on adrenalin but now that we’d stopped it was all catching up to us.   
I already knew that I’d never leave April’s side again. I could see the same feeling in Mulder’s eyes.   
We didn’t know much about our traveling companions but Violet seemed nice, if quiet. May and Brian are mostly a mystery, but for the little April has told us. I know that they’ve been friends most of their lives and that they won’t leave each other.   
“Do you really think May can read minds?” I question after a minute of silence.   
We are in the middle of nowhere and the sky is a beautiful distraction from our problems.   
Mulder shrugs again, “The kids seem to think so. April seemed very convinced. She mentioned that Brian also has empathic powers so it’s not a leap.”   
I roll my eyes but he doesn’t see.   
“All if it’s a leap Mulder.” I pause, “Do you think April is different like that.”   
“She doesn’t seem to be right now but I don’t know if that will develop. Afterall it seemed like whatever is happening to May is just happening now.”   
I shiver and Mulder pulls me in close to him. Burying my face in his chest and feeling his strong arms wrapped around me grounds me somewhat.   
After a few minutes we go back into the cabin to see that everyone is asleep. April has moved from the spot she’d set up for herself and was now cuddled close to Brian as they slept.   
The embrace was innocent but hinted at things to come that made me feel queasy. Mulder noticed the change in sleeping arrangements as well but didn’t say anything.   
Instead he laid down on his own mat and pulled me with him.   
We laid on our sides facing each other and the heavy, familiar feeling of his arm and leg draped over me began to make me feel drowsy.   
Mulder’s lips grazed my temple, “We’ve got her back now Scully. Everything else we can figure out along the way.”


	10. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Scully and Diana remember.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the wait! It’s been a long and difficult summer. This chapter is mostly a filler (sorry for that) but it gives a look into the past in a flashback. I promised to post a chapter each week of October! I was too busy yesterday to get this in under the line but consider this on my chapter for the first week of @fictober

Augst 1995   
Scully’s apartment

The air conditioner was broken but it didn’t stop Mulder from plastering himself to me. Our sweat mixed together and caused him to stick to me in a way that was reminiscent of our entire relationship. 

I could already tell that it was going to be a long night. We’d gotten to my apartment with the intention to have fast, stress relieving, sex but ended up being too tired and hot for anything. I’d pushed him away when I first fell asleep because it was too hot but sometime during the couple hours I was dreaming he slid over and spooned me.   
I was like a homing beacon for Mulder, he always found me. 

As hot as it was I was relieved when I woke up in his arms after a nightmare like the one I had. 

The nightmare was about Emily, as many of them were these days. In my dream I was pregnant. It started out happy, like some of the fantasies I had during the day, with Mulder and I finding and baby proofing an apartment as we awaited our baby. When she finally came she was perfect and beautiful, she was everything I wanted.   
In my dream time became muddled and next thing I know it was her third birthday and she looked like the Emily I knew. 

The difference was how much more she smiled and talked and giggled. Images of Mulder giving her a piggyback ride, my mother kissing her cheek, and me holding her close filled my dreams and I felt at peace until I was suddenly by myself. 

I was in a bathtub filled with blood and I was getting weaker and weaker. I tried to call out to Mulder but my throat was closed up. As I tried to cling to life I thought of my little girl but realized all at once that she wasn’t my little girl. 

I saw myself standing in the bathroom doorway as police officers took pictures of my wet, naked body. I was still trying to call out to Mulder but no one could hear me.   
In the next moment, I was holding Emily’s tiny cold body as Mulder tried to pull me away from her, this was a memory. I didn’t want to leave her side.   
She was dead, I knew this, but I couldn’t help the feeling that if I left her side something terrible would happen. 

That’s when I woke up to the sound of the breeze coming through the window mixed with Mulder’s shallow breathing. 

His arms were wrapped around me. One of his hands was splayed open on my stomach and the other lightly cupped my breast. His legs were tangled with mine and I could feel his heartbeat.   
I cried silently at all that had been lost and said a prayer for my little girl's soul. 

_______________________________________

Augst 1995   
Location unknown

“We will want to place her somewhere random, where they won’t go looking. Diana, show me that map again.” CGB Spender spat out his order as he took a puff of his newest cigarette.   
I suppressed a sigh and showed him the map that showed various Roush holdings across the country. I’d worked with Spender before, a few years before when they abducted Agent Dana Scully, but now I was being assigned to him for the foreseeable future. He was not a pleasant man but he did what needed to be done. 

I looked at the little girl who laid on a cot in front of us. She was so young that her face held a baby look to it. She was Fox’s baby. Well, Fox and his partner but I tried to not think of that part.   
I tried not to think about what would be expected of me in the coming months when I would insert myself back into Fox’s life and try to pull him away from her.   
The little girl moved in her bed and let out a small sigh and I felt a moment of despair at how young and innocent she was. 

“Diana snap out of it.” Spender said harshly, breaking through my retrieve. 

“She is not human anymore. She has not been human for some time. You need to stop seeing her as a child and begin to see her as humanity’s last hope. It is her, and all the others like her, that are helping us figure out how to fight the colonists. The sooner we can make her body survive on its own the sooner we can make a full plan to fight.” He said all of these things that I’d heard a million times already. 

I understood what he was saying but it didn’t make it easier so I just nodded.

“I think we should send her to Illinois.” He held up the map and pointed to a red dot in southern Illinois. “We can keep her here until her next birthday and then we will move her to the facility in Chicago. There we can track her growth and eventually put her into a mainstream environment.” 

“Does Fox know that she is his daughter?” The question came out of nowhere and he looked at me, disappointed that I was asking such a useless question. 

“Agent Scully is not stupid. Just as I predicted she ran the tests and discovered Emily’s true origins. I told everyone it would happen. That is why it’s crucial that you succeed in your next mission to break them apart.” 

I nodded to myself and looked at the girl again. I’d been there when they took her from her mother’s womb and put her into an incubator made of technology that officially didn’t exist. At that point, the child was still so small and unformed that we were able to change her DNA and experiment with her. 

Few of the infants survived that stage but of course, this child held a special interest for the man overseeing everything.

I looked at the way CGB Spender looked at his granddaughter and it made me feel sick. It was only after I was alone and could remind myself of all that was at stake that I could move forward.   
When I looked at Emily’s little body I made a promise that I’d do good by her someday. 

The next day I prepared to head back to Washington where I would join the FBI mainstream again and eventually bump into Fox. 

I didn’t look forward to the work it would take but the reward of being in his arms again would make it worth it. Spender believed that the knowledge of the child would hold them together, I knew I could use it to tear them apart.


	11. Chapter 10

November 2011   
Somewhere near the Canadian border 

We are just past the Canadian border when we catch the first whiff of our pursuers. We’re at a gas station waiting in line to pay when May becomes suddenly alert.   
_Someone’s here._ She warns internally and I freeze up.   
I notice Brian is also unmoving but he is able to keep on a mask of indifference.   
_Where? I ask back._  
I risk a glance at May to see her eyes are closed in concentration.   
_I don’t know I just hear them looking for us. Their thoughts are…. Simple… They’re not fully human. Their thoughts sound a lot like Kurt and Samantha’s. Maybe they are clones?..._  
We all begin to casually look around until the girl at the cash register irritatedly urges us forward.   
Brian deposits our snacks and pays while we continue looking.   
In an attempt to blend in I’d been taking to wearing my hair in a long braid covered by a beanie. I casually tuck the braid inside my hoodie and pull up my hood, knowing they’d be looking for a girl with long red hair.   
I see Mulder and Scully approaching us, chatting away, unaware of any danger. Our relationship has grown more comfortable but I still struggled over what to call them.   
Each morning Dana, Scully, my mom would plait my hair running her elegant fingers through my hair. She tells me stories about her and her sister when they were teenagers and would braid each other's hair.   
In this moment I feel myself drawn to them like a magnet. After a lifetime of wanting parents to take care of me having them here is still amazing to me.   
My mother notices that something is wrong as soon as she sees my face. I wonder if it’s something universal that all moms share and despite the fear I feel a moment of giddiness that I even have a mom.   
“What’s wrong?” She whispers to me and takes my arm.   
Mulder seems thrown off by this but immediately goes into protection mode, looking in all directions for the cause of the trouble.   
“May heard someone. She thinks they found us.”   
Her eyes grow hard and she looks up at my dad. Something silent passes between them before she takes my hand.   
“Let’s get back to the car.” She starts to pull me away.   
I glance behind me to see Mulder gathering May and Brian and following behind us.   
Violet is done pumping gas and getting ready to take her turn driving when we get to the car.   
“Did something happen?” She asks and draws close to her son and daughter.   
May, still distant, moves away from her mother’s reach but Brian lays a calming hand on her shoulder.   
“May sensed something. We just need to get out of here. Where are the clones?” Mulder asks.   
As if they were waiting, the car holding Kurt and Samantha pulls up next to us. They just nod and we know that May was right.   
Everyone is in the car in record time and we are off.   
We never see any sign of whoever May was sensing but when we stop to make camp Mulder demands answers from the clones.   
“We knew they would come after us.” Kurt says simply.   
Mulder sighs and begins to pace in the motel room where we are all gathered.   
“Who is giving them their orders?” He finally asks.   
“Diana Fowley.”   
The room takes on a different feel as my parents meet each other’s eyes.   
“She’s dead.” Dana finally says, breaking the tense silence.  
“Her death was faked. CGB Spender helped her hide until he thought it was safe.”   
“I thought he was the one who had her killed?” Mulder asks.   
“Officially he was.”   
There is more tense silence.   
“And now she’s running the whole thing?” Mulder rubs at his forehead as if trying to rub away a memory.   
The clones only nod in unison.   
“Great.” He mumbles.   
“So this woman, Diana Fowley, is the one after the children?” Violet asks.   
May bristles at the use of the word ‘children’ but doesn’t say anything.   
“More or less. We are not sure who is giving her orders. Possibly the US government, possibly extraterrestrial life forms.” Samantha supplies.   
“The government?” Violet looks confused.   
The clones nod again, “These types of experiments with human and alien DNA are highly interesting to every government, but the syndicate has always answered to the US government.”   
“You mean it was the government who kidnapped me and stole my babies?” For the first time in the week I’ve known her, Violet looks angry.   
The clones are unfazed.   
“Possibly, but not directly.” Kurt says.   
Violet close her eyes in pain and I wish that May would go and stand by her but Brian puts an arm around her, comforting her immediately.   
“How are they tracking us?” Mom says dragging everyone back on track.   
“They have many resources.” Kurt answers vaguely.   
My dad looks infuriated at this lack of an answer, “So you don’t know?”   
Kurt just gives a nod inciting a sigh from Mulder. 

_____________________________________________________________________

Mulder’s arm is slung over my waist in the kind of casual intimacy that I hate displaying in front of others but have been allowing because of the stress of the situation. The sleeping arrangements have been tight every night since we started traveling. Tonight we are all sharing a room, due to lack of funds.   
Kurt tells us that in the morning they will withdraw more cash and asked us to as well. We can only do it so often because they are surely monitoring our card activity. He assures us that we, if we are on the road quick enough, we can stay ahead of them.   
On my other side, April sleeps fitfully. I watch her face contort in painful ways for a few minutes before taking hold of her hand to soothe her. She opens her eyes and hazel meets blue.   
“I didn’t mean to wake you.” I whisper to her.   
“You didn’t, can’t sleep. You too?” She asks.   
“It’s been a long day.” I say uselessly, still not used to being the mother of a teenager.  
She nods and moves a little closer to me, still holding my hand.   
“Tell me more stories.” She says.   
I’ve been telling her all kinds of stories in the past few days; stories of my family, of the X- Files, and anything else that comes to mind. The only thing I have avoided is any mention of William. I don’t know how she would feel knowing that somewhere out there she has a little brother that I gave up.   
She seems to sense that I’m thinking about something troubling.   
“What are you thinking about?”   
I sigh, “The past and all the mistakes I’ve made. Em- April there are so many more stories from my life that are not happy.”   
“I want to hear those too if you want to tell them.”   
I pause for a few minutes and listen to the room around me. We are lying on one the queen beds while Violet, May, and Brian sleep on top of the other. Kurt and Samantha each made up a bed for themselves on the floor. From the next bed, I can hear Violet and May quietly talking and I feel a moment of relief for the woman who has also gone through so much.   
“You have a little brother.” I say without preamble.   
To her credit, she doesn’t appear shocked by this news, just confused.   
“There has never been a good explanation for how I was able to get pregnant. We tried In Vitro for a while but it didn’t take and not long after that I was pregnant with William.” I can hear the wistful in my voice when I say his name and my chest clenches a bit at the thought of him.   
She holds my hand tighter.   
When I don’t continue she asks.   
“What happened to him?”   
“I gave him up for adoption.” Shame fills me and I move on quickly to explain, “Mulder had to go into hiding and I hadn’t heard from him in so long, and I was worried that I never would again. A series of events convinced me that William was not safe with me and needed a normal life. Only a few months later Mulder was found, which is a whole other story, and we had to go on the run from the government.”   
“I’m sorry.”   
And I could tell that she was.


	12. Chapter 11

December 2011

Location unknown

\---

“We believe they’re somewhere north of Winnipeg.” The Krycek look-alike informs me.

I let out a long-suffering sigh. “How is it possible that you don’t know where they are?”

“Manitoba is a large area, all of Canada’s even larger. It’s like finding a needle in a haystack. We think they have connections in the First Nations, and are hiding out on a reservation somewhere. People on the reservations don’t trust us, we stink of government.” Though he was just a clone, he still had the annoying arrogance of the actual Alex Krycek.

“Then convince them to cooperate,” I growl.

“I thought you wanted us to remain low key?”

Sighing, I fantasize about putting a bullet in the clones head, just for the sake of it, but decide it’s not worth the trouble of training a new one.

“Just don’t attract any more attention than necessary. On a local level, we can deal with the people on the res.” I wave him away.

We’d been after them for a month. At times we would be close, but they always seemed to fall through the cracks. Two weeks ago, we’d even engaged them in a high speed chase that ended in three dead clones.

The children were developing their abilities, and it appeared to be working to their advantage. I open their files and glance at the cataloged photographs. Brian had been showing signs of extraordinary empathic abilities since he was a boy, but the other two hadn’t exhibited anything out of the ordinary.

Although it had been suspected early on that May would eventually demonstrate telepathy, no one could quite figure out if April was gifted at all.

But the car chase from a couple weeks ago hinted that April had indeed developed her own gift. One clone had survived the accident and had described an invisible force knocking them off the road and killing his three companions in the accident.

I held no doubts that either Kurt and Samantha or Mulder had connections in the First Nations. Mulder had lived amongst Native American’s for a time when he’d been alone on the run. Though Arizona was a long way from Manitoba, the various tribes of Native American’s have been known to fight against the Syndicate across state and country lines.

If they were indeed being aided by the Native American’s, they would be much harder to track down.

\---

December 2011

Pinaymootang (Fairford 50 Reserve), Manitoba

\---

My mother’s hands run through my hair as she plaits it and I watch the barren landscape through the window. The area was pretty but desolate.

Months before we arrived in Fairford, the Pinaymootang people had been struck by a flood that nearly destroyed their community. As we drive through, Kurt assures us that his source, Jacob Doyle, had stayed and rebuilt and had a place for us.

“How do we know we can trust this friend of yours?” Mulder asks for what had to be the tenth time.

Kurt’s face doesn’t change.

“We have known Jacob for many years. He has helped in the fight against the invading alien race and the powers that be. We trust him.”

“How does he have the resources to take in six total strangers?”

“He is a powerful member of the community.”

Not long after crossing the border, we’d switched to a large passenger van so that Kurt and Samantha could join us for the ride.

As we drive, I practice with a small, pretty stone I had picked up along the road. I hold it in my hand and try to move it with my mind. The night I discovered I was telepathic was also the last time I was able to do it. Dad says it was the stress that allowed me to do it. That it would just take time and practice. But I want it to work now.

It had happened in the midst of a high speed chase with the people who have been tracking us. We were still in two vehicles at the time, and were being followed by another two. I didn’t panic until my dad shouted out that we were running low on gas, I turned to look out the back and wished I could swat them off the road. As if on cue, the cars veered off the road as if it by an invisible train. Everyone watched silently, but neither car slowed down.

When we all caught our collective breath, I told them about what happened.

I could tell that Dana was still hesitant to believe it. May told me privately that my mom just wants a normal life for me and hates the idea that I can’t have that. My father, on the other hand, is excited by it.

I find it frustrating to no end. May has helped us avoid disaster multiple times, while I sit here uselessly.

She works every day on widening her reach and she is getting quite good at it. Brian has remained steady as ever in all the stress, keeping everyone on an even keel.

Violet and May have reached an uneasy, but kind, relationship. May still resents that we need parents. she craves independence, but has also began to admit that it’s nice to have a mother. Their mother dotes on them just as much as mine does, but in a more quiet and reserved way.

I like Violet, she’s kind and good natured but there is a deep pain about her that is also unsettling. My parents also carry pain with them but they also had each other. Violet has been alone for many years.

She and my mother talked about their experiences. Violet was amazed at my mother’s story of her recovery from the brain cancer that stalked abductees. As she told the story of her recovery, I watched my mother’s tender gaze often shift to Mulder.

The intimacy between my parents made everyone slightly uncomfortable. But I understood that they had only depended on each other for so long. they weren’t used to having others around. It wasn’t that they were very affectionate, it was how they would look at each other. When their eyes met, it was like there was no one else in the room.

May romanticizes it, calls it fairy tale love, but I have a feeling that it was a hard fought love that came from years of pain and devotion.

As we turn down a dirt path up ahead, I can see multiple mobile homes gathered together. The area is obviously poor, but the thought of getting out of the car is so appealing that I don’t care if I’ll be sleeping on rags. it has got to be better than the pleather seat of the van.

“Pull around the back,” Kurt orders, and we circle behind the ramshackle homes. The poverty is a striking juxtaposition to the beautiful scenery that surrounds it. Evidence of spring flood can be clearly seen, but these homes are on a slight rise, and it looks like they were nearly untouched by the destruction.

We pile out of the van eagerly, but the freezing air quickly dampens our excitement. Manitoba in December is not a welcoming place. a thick layer of snow covers the ground and I am once again happy that we’d stopped and stocked up on winter boots and coats.

Suddenly, the previously dingy mobile homes look inviting, with their small curls of smoke coming from little chimneys. 

A tall man with deep ochre skin and black hair came out of one of the homes to greet us. He is imposing but his face is kind. It’s impossible to tell his age, the lines on his face indicated age but there’s a feeling of youth about him.

“Hello! I’m Jacob, welcome to your winter home. Let’s get you inside, and then we can make proper introductions.” His voice matched the kindness in his eyes, and we all grabbed our belongings and followed without a word.

\---

Scully and I are given our own room. Well, more of an alcove but it is still a space of our own. I throw myself down on the queen mattress, which drawing a small laugh from Scully.  
“Come here,” I growl playfully grabbing her hips before she can escape.

“Mulder! Not now!” Her tone is firm, but there’s a smile on her face as she tries to bat away my hands. I sit up and pull her forward until she’s standing between my legs and I’m looking up at her. Her eyebrow is raised, and the smirk on her face looks perfectly kissable.

“Later, Mulder. Let’s get settled first. Aren’t you hungry?”

When she asks the question, I wiggle my eyebrows playfully, “I am hungry.”

She chuckles and swats at me playfully. I move my hands to her behind, and give a little squeeze before letting her go.

Scully places a small kiss on my head and shoos me out of the way so she can put a clean sheet on the bed.

I leave her to it, and move on to explore the rest of the small space that we’ll be sharing with the rest of our small group. Brian will sleep on a cot in the ‘living room’, April and May have a room for themselves, and Violet has her own little alcove on the other side of the trailer. It’s not a very big space, but it will do. I’ve heard nothing of where the clones plan on living or sleeping, and I wonder if they’re planning on leaving us for the winter. It seems likely.

And I’m not sure if I care or not. Their presence is comforting and unsettling at the same time. I still have a hard time looking at the clone of Samantha, and she seems to sense this and keeps her distance. I can’t help but wonder how many of her there are.

I’m surprised to find April sitting at the small kitchen table. she looks up when she hears me, and gives a small smile. I grin back at her and sit down.

“How ya doing?” I ask. I haven’t been quite sure how to be around her. I want to be affectionate and take her hand, but I’m still unsure that she wants affection from me. She and Scully had hit it off relatively quickly, whereas I felt bumbling and unsure. Suddenly I was the father of a teenage daughter, and I wasn’t sure what to do about it.

As she looks around for an answer, I’m struck again by the fact that she is mine. The reality of Emily had always been an abstract idea to me. When I’d known her as a child, I hadn’t known she was mine, and by the time I found out, we’d thought her dead.

With William, the loss was painful in a more real sense, and with Emily it had brought more anger than hurt. There were times I’d cried over her life and death, but many times the sadness was overwhelmed by fury at the injustice of it all.

She looks up at me with the same eyes I see in the mirror every morning. 

“I’m alright. Exhausted. I suppose I’m happy we’re stopping for a while.”

“Still frustrated over the telekinesis?” I ask knowingly.

She sighs and nods, “I just wish I could be more useful.”

“If you hadn’t have found your powers when you did, we wouldn’t be here now.”

“That’s true, I guess.”

I cover her hand with my own. Everything about her is long and thin, and it reminds me of myself when I was a teenager.

“Give yourself some time. These are superhuman abilities we are talking about here.”

She gives a little laugh and I squeeze her hand before letting it go.

I spot Jacob and Kurt talking outside and decide to go listen in.

Before walking out I kiss the top of her head.

“I’m so glad you found us.”


	13. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's a Christmas miracle! I have another chapter! Enjoy the holidays!

“So, what’s the plan?” I ask Kurt and Jacob as I approach.

Jacob smiles and pats my shoulder. His hand is as big as the rest of him, and I have to steady myself.

“Well, Kurt was saying that they’re leaving in the morning.” Jacob volunteers.

Kurt nods. “We’ll give the children their injections tonight, and leave before the sun is up. We’re going to leave enough serum for six months, but we should be back before then.”

I remember the small green vial I’d found at the old age home years ago and grimace. The same old rage begins to boil up inside me as I remember what was done to Emily.

She could have been a normal child.

I shake my head to prevent myself from slipping into a familiar daydream - Emily, born naturally, growing up as a perfectly normal child with Scully and I.

“Is there a way to make it so that they don’t need these injections anymore? I was under the impression that they were injected so often as a means to control them.” I ask finally.

“We believe that there is a long-term solution to the problem, which is exactly why we need to go back to the States to continue our work.”

“And what are we supposed to do in the meantime?”

“Just stay here and remain hidden. There is enough serum to keep until we get back to you. I understand that it’s not the best option but it’s all you can do for now.”

I clench my jaw and count to five before moving on, “So you’re going to show us how to perform the injections?”

* * *

The children all three seem unfazed as the clone of Samantha takes out three green vials and places them on the countertop. Meanwhile, Mulder paces like a caged lion, Violet watches in concern, and I don latex gloves and mask.

“The mask is to protect you from any fumes that might arise. It shouldn’t happen but just in case.” Samantha says as she prepares the first syringe.

April is sitting in front of me and when she gathers her hair up in her hand and leans forward I see the cyst on the back of her neck. It’s much smaller than it was when she was a child and instead of being obviously green it’s just tinged green in the very center. The differences in appearance don’t stop me from reliving the horrible moment when we first discovered it and the moment when the nurse tried to cut it open.

“Does it hurt?” I ask softly and lightly brush it with my fingers.

She shakes her head, “I don’t notice it. Sometimes the injections hurt but usually I feel better afterwards.”

Samantha hands me the syringe, “You just inject it right into the cyst.”

I nod and try to still the trembling in my hands. I’m tempted to just take April into my arms and hold her but I know this needs to be done and I am the best one to do it.

Turning just a bit I catch Mulder’s worried eye. He nods at me and, with that added support; I focus and plunge the needle into her neck.

April hisses through her teeth but doesn’t move.

“I’m sorry honey.” I whisper to her as I drain the green fluid into her body.

“It’s not your fault.” She says back but it doesn’t stop the guilt that I feel knowing she had to go through this every month of her life without me.

I move on to May who bares her neck to me in the same fashion. Again the cyst is small and inconspicuous. May grips the table hard but makes no sound when the needle breaks the skin.

Brian is the only one of the three who doesn’t have a reaction to the needle and I wonder, not for the first time if he is some kind of trained monk.

All three of them hold gauze on their necks for a couple minutes until I replace it with a Band-Aid and it’s done.

“Do you feel any different?” Violet asks.

“Usually when it comes time for the injections we will start to feel fatigued and a little sick, after the shot we’ll always feel better.” Brian answers for the group.

“It’s always been this way?”

All three of them nod and I along with Violet and Mulder bite back the tears and anger over what was stolen.

Within a few minutes, all three of the teens are moving to their beds to lie down. Kurt told us beforehand that they would feel tired afterward and would want to rest and then eat.

“I’ll make us some food.” Violet finally says with a sigh. She begins to explore the kitchenette that was already packed with food Jacob had provided for us. There is not much that can be done in the small space so most of the food is canned and frozen.

“Would you like some help?” I ask as safely dispose of the needles and other used medical supplies in a trashcan provided for that specific purpose.

Violet smiles kindly at me but shakes her head.

“I’m just going to make us some pasta. Not much room for two over here anyways.”

I return her smile and thank her. Mulder has already made a beeline for the bedroom and I wish he would be less obvious.

When I turn back to Violet I see that Jacob has moved to stand beside her, despite her comment about two people in the kitchen. They chat quietly and as she hands him a tomato to slice I make my exit.

As soon as I push aside the thin accordion door Mulder’s arms are around me and he’s pulling me to the bed. We’ve not had many moments alone since finding April and his desperation is showing.

I am exhausted but as soon as Mulder’s hands begin to trail along familiar places the tiredness is replaced by arousal. My hand moves down to stroke him through his jeans and he lets out a long groan into my neck.

“You have to be quiet Mulder.” I whisper to him.

Delight reads in his eyes when he looks up at me and I can tell he is feeling challenged. Soon he has stripped my clothes off and is trailing his mouth down my stomach.

He takes up a leisurely pace with his tongue as if getting reacquainted with my vulva. I lay back, relaxing, and pet his head as he works.

Mulder takes his time working me up and the orgasm takes me by surprise when he suddenly picks up the pace.

Throwing my hand over my mouth and arching my back I am able to maintain relative silence, much to Mulder’s chagrin. His slick grinning face is as accustomed to me as my own and I suddenly feel much more at home in such a foreign place.

* * *

“Oh my god your parents are having sex.” May tells me with a horrified face.

I make a noise of disgust, “Why would you tell me that?”

“If I have to suffer so should you.”

“I thought you said you were getting better at tuning that kind of thing out.” I say and give her a small shove.

We are lying on our new bed in our new tiny room. To be fair though it is the only actual room in the small home, given to us in respect for our changing bodies; or at least that’s what May says.

I don’t feel any huge need for privacy but I was not going to complain about having an actual room. And sharing a room with May is second nature by now. It’s not even the first time we’ve shared a bed.

“I am getting better at it but when two people’s minds are screaming something it’s hard not to hear.” May complains and I grimace.

“Put in your headphones.”

She sighs but retrieves her iPod from her bag and settles in.

“It’s kind of hot actually.” She adds before putting in an earbud.

“Shut up!” I half yell and give her a real push.

She laughs and puts a pillow between us to protect herself.

My eyes are heavy and I want to sleep but the pain in my neck is stopping me. I know it will go away soon but I wish it would hurry up.

Reading my mind, May hands me the ice pack she’d been holding to the back of her neck. There were only two in the freezer so we had opted to share while Brian took the other one.

The cold helps right away and I begin to feel more relaxed as the back of my neck starts to numb.

The clones are leaving in the morning and I am not sure how to feel. They have not exhibited very much personality but I have a fondness for the two of them for reuniting us with our parents.

May says they do indeed think differently but that they still have very human emotions. It will be hard to say goodbye. Their departure also makes me nervous. Since the beginning of this journey, they have led us and I wonder how we will do on our own. I trust both my parents and Violet and from what I’ve seen of Jacob he appears trustworthy but whoever is after us is very motivated.

As I try to focus on sleep I focus on a small, simple, tapestry hanging on the wall and try to move it with my mind. Before I fall asleep I am able to sway it back and forth slowly.


	14. Chapter 13

[Link text](https://78.media.tumblr.com/fc2114e7698455b73dacdb07d7c3e975/tumblr_inline_p3avffNWVZ1qlcf6u_540.jpg)

* * *

October 1999  
Location unknown

* * *

Diana stares at Mulder’s still body and waits for him to wake up. They are in a prep room in a secret facility where his operation will take place in a few minutes. Diana holds his hand nervously, playing with his slender fingers. 

He wakes in a panic, his mouth forming the name ‘Scully’ even though he can’t speak. When his eyes meet hers she doesn’t need to be able to read his mind to see what he’s thinking.   
He knows about everything. 

“Fox…” she begins and cups his cheek in her hand. He tries to move his head away in disgust but is too weak. 

“Just listen to me for a moment. They are going to perform a procedure on you, it’s dangerous but necessary. You will save mankind, you and your father.”

Mulder’s eyes narrow and she strokes his cheek with her thumb. 

“Look into my mind. You know this is the right thing, it must be done.”

‘Fuck you.’   
She hears his unspoken words in her mind and closes her eyes against the pain caused by his anger. 

‘Get your hands off of me. You think you're some kind of brave heroine, giving up what you want for the greater good, but your really dooming humanity to damnation. What is the point of preserving humanity if we have to do things like this to save it? Why are we worth life if our salvation comes from unsolicited operations and medical rape?’

Diana looks into his eyes and tries to show him everything inside her but he just closes his eyes and shakes his head. 

“Fox, he is planning on leaving you to die afterwards, making all of this untraceable but I have a better idea. Salvation for both of us. After this we can run away, escape, from everything. We don’t have to be apart of this system. We can fake our deaths and find a nice place together.”

He squints up at her. 

“Maybe we could even start a family.” 

As soon as she says it she knows it was the wrong thing to say. He doesn’t have to tell her telepathically that he is angry, she can see it in his eyes. 

‘Either you believe in a cause or you don’t. You took the option of children away from Scully and countless other women and you want me to just forget that? Go to hell.’ 

In the minutes before they come to wheel him away she tires to show him her plans but he won’t even look at her. 

As they take him away she lets go of any dreams she had of him and plans her own escape. 

February 2012  
Underneath Arlington Cemetery, Washington D.C

“Have you ever heard of a place called Pinaymootang?” Langly calls over his shoulder to his fellow Gunmen. 

“Out with it, blondie, what did you find?” 

Frohike snaps, leaning over Langly’s shoulder to see the computer screen. 

“I think I found Mulder and Scully. In a little place called Pinaymootang, Manitoba. I got an email from a friend on the rez there.”

“Do you think they’re safe?” Byers asks, joining the fray. 

“Hard to say. Diana’s goons are in Winnipeg, about three hours away. They’ve been searching the area for a while now, going town to town, but there’s a lot of land to cover and it’s still the dead of winter there,” Langly says, pulling up a map of the area on the screen.

“Do you think it’s time we broke out of here and saved their asses?” Frohike asks with a smile.

* * *

February 2012  
Pinaymootang, Manitoba

* * *

The hallway is dark, empty, and long. I don’t know how long I’ve been walking but it feels like days. Finally an open door comes into sight. I can tell it’s a bathroom as soon as I see the tub but right away I notice something is wrong. The tub is overflowing but the water is red. I start to run and it feels like it takes a lifetime to reach the doorway. When I cross the threshold I recognize the woman who raised me for the first few years of my life.

Roberta Sim is in the bathtub, with a razor. Suddenly I am a little girl again. My mom is bleeding and not moving and I start screaming and can’t stop.

“April? April! What happened?” 

“I don’t know she just started screaming!”

Voices break through the static of the dream and I feel arms wrap around me. 

“It’s ok, April, you’re safe.” Her words are punctuated by the feel of her fingers running through my hair. 

“Mom?” 

“I’m here.” 

I wrap my arms around Dana and cry, prompting Brian to come over and put a hand on my shoulder, calming me down without words. 

“It was so awful. I saw her in the bathtub… and…” I trail off but she manages to understand, holds me a little tighter. 

When I calm down I look around, realize that my room is crowded with people. 

Mulder stands over Dana’s shoulder looking pensive; April sits up next to me, rubbing my back sympathetically and Brian stands at my other side, his hand still on my shoulder.

I close my eyes again, still snuggled close to Dana and content to let her hold me. Under the woodsmoke smell of the corner fireplace is her scent and I want it to swallow me up. 

“Are you going to be alright?” Dana asks as I yawn, manage a small nod.

“Can you stay until I fall asleep?” I ask, quietly so only she and May can hear. I feel embarrassed making such a request but if Dana’s smile is any indication she is touched by my request.

Brian, sensing that he is no longer needed, kisses the top of my head and leaves. Dana whispers something to Mulder who crouches down, and cups my cheek for a moment before saying a soft goodnight, heading to bed.

I pick up on some irritation from May as I scoot to the middle of the bed to make room for Dana. 

Glancing at her I communicate with a look as well as telepathically that I need this, which seems to calm May down. She nods and smiles, rolls over before Dana taps me on the shoulder.

“Try to sleep,” she says, kissing my forehead as I nod, shut my eyes.  
I’m asleep in minutes, before May shaking my shoulder wakes me up.

“April… Come on babe, time to get up. Someone’s on their way up and Jake doesn’t recognize them.” 

Nodding I sit up, then panic realizing Dana’s no longer next to me.

“She’s getting her gun.” May assures. 

Our first weeks in Pinaymootang, we realized my parents were extremely protective. They took shifts staying up and always carried their guns. The past day or two they seemed to relax, and us along with them, until tonight anyway.

“Girls!” Violet hisses from the doorway, waving for us to get out of bed. 

We pull on our coats and boots, gearing ourselves up to run for our lives. Violet stands between May and I, her arms around both of us, and Brian stands on my other side. We hold hands as Mulder and Dana peek through the blinds. 

“Scully, take them out the back. I’ll wait for Jacob and catch up,” Mulder says as a pair of headlights flash across the darkness.

“What are we supposed to do, Mulder? Crawl through a damn window?” Dana scoffs, running a hand through her hair. 

“It’s better than staying here like sitting ducks!” he hisses before a car door slams, and they quit bickering, stare outside fearfully.

“They’re armed…” May whispers. 

Dana looks over at me and I see tears in her eyes. Even without knowing what she’s thinking, I know she has the same fear I do. That this is the last time we’ll see each other.

“Surrender yourselves now, agents,” a voice booms from outside.

“We’re armed. If Mulder, Scully, and Violet come out of their own accord we may spare your lives. Otherwise, we’re prepared to enter the house, kill every adult, and take the kids anyways.”   
“Krycek,” Mulder spits, shaking his head, “I should’ve known that rat bastard could beat the grave.” 

“Mom,” I choke out. She glances at me and wordlessly I try to tell her to surrender but she shakes her head. Looks to Mulder who nods in understanding.

“Go to hell, Krycek!” Mulder shouts. “We’re not surrendering. You’ll get these kids over our dead bodies!”

Violet tightens her hold on us in silent agreement.

“Have it your way,” Krycek snorts, sounding way too amused at the thought.

“Get down!” Mulder shouts. We all hit the floor as the first bullets break through the wall and I start shaking, break down in tears. 

Dana and Mulder retreat back and take cover behind a partition, then duck back around it and return fire. They shoot off about six rounds, but as Dana grabs behind her for a loaded shotgun she cries out, clutches her left shoulder. 

“Mom, no!” I scream, right as the walls start to shake. After that we hear a deafening crash from outside and then the longest, scariest quiet I’ve ever heard. 

A minute later, still crouched on the ground we hear shots coming from a different direction, taking down the would’ve been intruders. When we hear a distinctly male death groan right outside the door, May pumps her fist in celebration. 

We wait then, still cowered and hidden as footsteps approach. 

“Who is it?” Dana growls from her spot on the floor.

“It’s Jacob! You’re safe now!” Our friend says from outside. Violet runs to the door, hugs him tight while Mulder and I race to my mother.

“I’m fine,” she snaps, sitting up as Mulder tears the sleeve off his tee shirt, wraps it tight around her wound. She winces but still manages a small smile, 

“Keep going, G-Man,” she teases as he rolls his eyes. 

“Not in front of the kids, Scully,” he chides, shifting over so I can move in between the two of them. I hug Dana lightly, sniff back tears in an effort to hide how scared I was.

“It’s okay, baby. I’m fine,” she soothes, putting her good arm around me before brushing her lips on the top of my head. Mulder in turn scoots closer, slides an arm around both of us before kissing Dana on top of her head.

“Aw, will you look at that. You guys are a real family. Not a normal one, but still. Pretty damn cute.” 

My parents freeze up and look as if they’ve seen a ghost. 

“Frohike?”

* * *

February 2012  
Pinaymootang, Manitoba

* * *

“You stooges have been alive this whole time and never dropped a line?” I ask indignantly, making sure the kids are situated in the back of the van before climbing in myself.

Byers is stitching up Scully in the middle bench seat, after both of them repeatedly assured me she’d just been grazed. 

“We’ve been living top secret lives under Arlington, Mulder. You and Scully were on the run from the FBI. Neither lifestyle is very conducive to friendship,” he says, not looking up from his stitching.

“Doing top secret work for the feds is a hell of a gig, Mulder.” Langly says from the driver's seat. 

“Eyes on the road, punk!” Frohike yells, turning around from his place in the passenger seat.

“We’ve mostly been troubleshooting. They give us a plan and we tear it to shreds. Being dead has been pretty lucrative.” 

“How did you find us?” Scully asks, looking cool as a cucumber even without anesthetic. I glance over in time to see the needle enter her skin and wince on her behalf. 

“We’ve always kept tabs on you guys. Just in case you needed backup,” Langly answers.

“There were a few times I could’ve used the help,” I scoff, buckling my seatbelt.

“We can’t be there to save your ass every time, Mulder.” 

I wonder why they couldn’t have at least been there to help Scully before she gave up William, but I bite my tongue, not about to open an old wound when she’s got a new one being stitched.

“What made you decide this time is worth it?” I ask.

“You had some bad people after you. We could see they were getting close,” Langly answers. 

“We knew that you found Emily- um- April. Figured it was only a matter of time before Diana caught up to that fact, too.” Frohike grumbles. 

“Another person who’s supposed to be dead,” I groan, rubbing my forehead. 

“Nobody stays dead in this business, Mulder. You know that,” Byers says simply.

“Same as you know that chickadee’s got a bug up her undead ass. About the kids I mean,” Frohike clarifies, earning a snort from Scully.

“She’s running the whole operation now,” Langly says. “Diana’s got clones of everyone in the Syndicate and a few of their select meatheads. She tells them to jump and they ask how high.” 

I remember watching Krycek and the other ‘men’ who attacked us turn into greenish-yellow puddles in the snow when they were shot. I’m not sure to be relieved or scared that Diana has an endless army of clones rather than real people. 

“Why does she want the kids?” Scully asks, trying to hide the worry in her voice. I reach over, squeeze her hand and as Byers finishes his last suture, she squeezes mine back tight. 

“We’re not completely sure, Scully,” Langly sighs. “We think her plan is to complete the original mission of the Syndicate. She drank their Kool-Aid decades ago. It makes sense she wants to stand by their plan.”

“She gave her clones orders to take the teens alive. To kill anyone who got in their way.” Byers adds, placing Scully’s bandage. 

“Maybe it’s a personal vendetta. She could be pissed you never took her up on her offer to run off with her, hotshot.” Frohike muses before I can tell him to shut up. 

I look at Scully to see her face is a stoic mask. Diana has always been a blacklisted topic for us. I was so eager to be with Scully I’d all but blocked out the offer she’d made me in the hospital. Fake our deaths, ride off into the sunset together. I’d known she was a traitor at that point, but even before that became clear, it wouldn’t have been difficult to turn her down. The idea of betraying Scully for something simpler, even a betrayal I was forced into during a damn dream, left me feeling guilty. I never saw fit to tell Scully the truth about the world Spender presented me with. It had been a nightmare and one that I wouldn’t subject anyone to, least of all her. 

I let out a sigh, attempt to move the conversation forward, “She had time to take her revenge, Frohike. Seems beside the point now. And Diana gave Scully the key to save me. If she wanted me dead, she could have gotten her wish then.”

“Maybe all this is more fulfilling than watching you die,” Frohike offered. It took all my strength to not reach up into the passenger seat and strangle him with his seatbelt. 

The motive of a broken heart did seem a bit petty for Diana, but I wasn’t about to delve into that argument. Scully had known from the beginning what she was really about, and I imagine still, in spite of everything, it bothers her we never really addressed it. 

Sneaking a look at Scully, now content to stare out the window, I let out a sigh. Ask what we’ve all been wondering.

“So, what’s the plan?”


End file.
